US Patent Office Knocks Out 99% of Verathon's Video Laryngoscope Patent in Aircraft Medical Re-Exam Action

EDINBURGH, January 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

The Board of Appeals at the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a decision that invalidates the majority of the claims in Verathon Inc.'s US 6,543,447 patent for a video laryngoscope^[1].

Aircraft Medical requested a re-examination of Verathon's patent in 2006 after Verathon, a subsidiary of Roper Industries, Inc., initiated litigation against Aircraft Medical for infringement of their '447 patent. Aircraft had the litigation stayed (put on hold) pending the outcome of re-examination of the patent at the US Patent Office. The Board of Appeals agreed with Aircraft's arguments, upholding only one remaining claim (out of nearly 300), which is not relevant to Aircraft's current or planned products.

Verathon had also previously unsuccessfully attempted to sue Aircraft Medical in the UK for infringement of the equivalent European patent to the '447 patent, but the Court ruled there was no infringement.

Aircraft Medical last week announced the appointment of Philippa Montgomerie as in-house legal counsel and a member of the Board. She joins the Company from global law firm DLA Piper, where she was a Partner in the UK Intellectual Property group and had advised Aircraft Medical for several years as well as a number of the world's largest life science companies on a variety of issues, including patent strategy, litigation and commercial agreements. Prior to this she spent six years at the leading firm Linklaters in London.

Background

Aircraft Medical is a specialist developer and producer of high quality medical devices and is focused on the needs of anaesthesia and critical care professionals around the world. Aircraft Medical is recognized as a founding member of the rapidly emerging video laryngoscope market with its McGRATH® video laryngoscope products sold globally, including the McGRATH® MAC and its predecessor, the Series 5, the world's first fully portable video laryngoscope.

For further information visit http://www.aircraftmedical.com.

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1. United States Patent and Trademark Office, appeal 2012-007851

SOURCE Aircraft Medical