Medicomp has received an initial ruling by USPTO to reject all claims in regards to LifeWatch patent 7,542,878 (the '878 patent). Medicomp designs, develops and provides advanced cardiac monitoring products and services.
In response to a lawsuit LifeWatch brought against Medicomp for patent infringement, Medicomp requested that the USPTO reexamine the ‘878 patent and a second LifeWatch patent, 5,730,143 (the ‘143 patent), based on its belief that the patents are invalid and should not have been granted.
Medicomp said that in the lawsuit in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, LifeWatch had sought a preliminary injunction to prevent Medicomp from marketing its Medicomp SAVI Wireless mobile cardiac telemetry product.
After the USPTO had granted Medicomp’s reexamination request of the ‘878 patent, the court denied the preliminary injunction sought by LifeWatch, allowing Medicomp to proceed with the launch of its Medicomp SAVI Wireless mobile cardiac telemetry product.
If the rejection of the claims in the ‘878 patent by the USPTO stands, the patent will be revoked. Additionally, the USPTO has ordered reexamination of all claims in the ‘143 patent, but has not yet issued a first Office Action with a rejection.
Dan Balda, president of Medicomp, said: “We are extremely excited about this news as we are eager to get this matter behind us so we can resume our focus on providing patients and healthcare providers with what we believe to be the best mobile cardiac telemetry technology offering in the industry.”
Stephen Maebius, a patent attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP working on this case, said: “Although this was a time-consuming and expensive for the company, we are pleased that the USPTO has ordered reexamination against both patents asserted in the litigation.
“If the USPTO issues and maintains rejections against all claims in the reexaminations of the ‘878 and ‘143 patents, then the patents will ultimately be rendered void and inapplicable to any LifeWatch products.”