A Medical Device Daily

Hamamatsu (Bridgewater, New Jersey) reported that a U.S. patent infringement lawsuit was filed on June 10 against it, Hamamatsu Photonics KK (Hamamatsu, Japan), and Olympus America (Center Valley, Pennsylvania).

The lawsuit, brought by Aperio Technologies (Vista, California), in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, accuses products incorporating Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. NanoZoomer technology of infringing Aperio U.S. patent Nos. 6,917,696; 7,457,446; and 7,518,652.

The lawsuit follows a series of letters issued by Aperio in which Aperio alleged infringement. According to Hamamatsu, Hamamatsu Photonics KK has analyzed the asserted claims and concluded that its NanoZoomer product is not covered by any of the patents that Aperio has identified.

Hamamatsu Photonics KK responded to each letter from Aperio by pointing out its belief that the asserted patents did not cover the Hamamatsu Photonics NanoZoomer technology, the company said. Aperio has not responded to any of the requests by Hamamatsu Photonics for further details and information, according to Hamamatsu. Instead, Aperio filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court, without any reply to the non-infringement positions brought to its attention by Hamamatsu Photonics, the company said.

Hamamatsu Photonics says it respects the valid intellectual property rights of other companies, and has an "excellent reputation" worldwide for dealing fairly with its competition. The company said it believes that its NanoZoomer technology is not covered by any valid claims of the patents asserted by Aperio in the pending litigation.

Hamamatsu Photonics said it would "vigorously" defend itself and fully expects to achieve a favorable outcome before the U.S. District Court.

Hamamatsu is the North American subsidiary of Hamamatsu Photonics KK, a manufacturer of devices for the generation and measurement of infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light.

In other legalities, the law offices of Howard G. Smith (Bensalem, Pennsylvania) said it is investigating potential claims against the board of directors of Monogram Biosciences (Bensalem, Pennsylvania) related to an agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina) to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Monogram in an all-cash deal valued at roughly $155 million, including debt. Monogram and LabCorp reported the deal earlier this week (Medical Device Daily, June 24, 2009).

According to the agreement, Monogram shareholders will receive $4.55 in cash for each share of Monogram they own. The investigation concerns possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law related to the proposed acquisition, the firm said.