SonoSite Responds to Second GE Lawsuit in Wisconsin
May 27 2008 - 5:00AM
Business Wire
SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader and specialist in
hand-carried ultrasound at the point-of-care, said today that the
General Electric Company (GE) filed a lawsuit in the US District
Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on May 22 seeking to
invalidate SonoSite�s US Patent No. 5,722,412, �Hand Held
Ultrasonic Diagnostic Instrument� (�the 412 patent�). SonoSite has
performed a preliminary assessment of the case and believes GE�s
claim is baseless and without merit. �GE�s latest filing is yet
another attempt to slow our strong momentum,� said Kevin M.
Goodwin, SonoSite President and CEO. �Our momentum is growing
because our small, innovative hand-carried systems are having a
significant, global impact on patient safety and the cost of
healthcare. Because GE is not winning with product innovation or
customers, they challenge us in the courts yet again by filing
another meritless lawsuit. We strongly believe that there is no
legal basis for this lawsuit and we will proceed firmly ahead to
defend our legal rights. We will continue to invest in
customer-centered innovation, education and service while remaining
focused on the needs of clinicians at the point-of-care.� In
October 2007, SonoSite introduced its fourth generation of
hand-carried ultrasound products. The company shipped the
industry�s first hand-carried ultrasound system in 1999 and today
has an installed base of over 40,000 systems worldwide with annual
revenues having grown twenty times since initial shipment of
generation one. SonoSite�s rugged, lightweight systems have
revolutionized medical care by bringing high performance ultrasound
visualization to the point of patient care in anesthesia, surgery,
critical care, emergency medicine and other medical specialties.
Built to military specification, hundreds of SonoSite systems are
deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan to aid in triaging wounded troops.
Most recently, SonoSite systems were dispatched to help victims in
the aftermath of the earthquake in China. This is the second
lawsuit that GE has filed against SonoSite alleging patent
infringement. On May 15, 2007, GE sued SonoSite in the same federal
court in Wisconsin alleging that the company infringed certain GE
patents. SonoSite has denied all of GE�s claims and alleged that
the asserted patents are either invalid, not infringed, or both.
SonoSite has filed counterclaims asserting that GE and its
affiliated companies infringe four SonoSite patents covering
various core ultrasound�related technologies. About SonoSite
SonoSite, Inc. (www.sonosite.com) is the innovator and world leader
in hand-carried ultrasound. Headquartered near Seattle, the company
is represented by 10 subsidiaries and a global distribution network
in over 100 countries. The company employs over 600 people
worldwide. Forward-looking Information and the Private Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 Certain statements in this press release
relating to the market acceptance of our products, possible future
sales relating to expected orders, and our future financial
position and operating results are �forward-looking statements� for
the purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements are based on the opinions and estimates of our
management at the time the statements are made and are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking
statements. These statements are not guaranties of future
performance and are subject to known and unknown risks and
uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions.
Factors that could affect the rate and extent of market acceptance
of our products, the receipt of expected orders, and our financial
performance include our ability to successfully manufacture, market
and sell our ultrasound systems, our ability to accurately forecast
customer demand for our products, our ability to manufacture and
ship our systems in a timely manner to meet customer demand,
variability in quarterly results caused by the timing of large
project orders from governmental or international entities and the
seasonality of hospital purchasing patterns, timely receipts of
regulatory approvals to market and sell our products, regulatory
and reimbursement changes in various national health care markets,
constraints in government and public health spending, the ability
of our distribution partners and other sales channels to market and
sell our products, the impact of patent litigation, our ability to
execute our acquisition strategy, the effect of transactions and
activities associated with our issuance of senior convertible debt
in July 2007 on the market price of our common stock, and as well
as other factors contained in the Item 1A. �Risk Factors� section
of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution readers not to place
undue reliance upon these forward-looking statements that speak
only as to the date of this release. We undertake no obligation to
publicly revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new
information, events or circumstances after the date of this release
or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
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