SonoSite Announces Global Patent Settlement With GE
October 19 2009 - 6:30AM
Business Wire
SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader and
specialist in hand-carried ultrasound for the point-of-care,
announced today that the company has resolved all pending patent
litigation with General Electric Company (GE). This includes the
lawsuit filed by GE in 2008 in the federal district court in
Madison, Wisconsin (case no. 08-cv-298-bbc) to invalidate
SonoSite's US Patent No. 5,722,412 (the '412" patent") and a
pending appeals in the Federal Circuit (case nos. 2008-1567,
2008-1568) of certain rulings in a patent infringement case filed
by GE in the same Wisconsin court in 2007. The settlement also
resolves a revocation action filed by GE in the Federal Patent
Court in Germany relating to the '412 patent.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, GE will make
an up front payment to SonoSite of $21 million and pay an
ongoing royalty on US sales and production of hand-carried
ultrasound systems weighing less than ten pounds in exchange for a
perpetual nontransferable worldwide license to the '412 patent
family. SonoSite will receive these royalties until the '412 patent
expires in 2016. The terms of the settlement provides for the
dismissal of all pending legal actions between SonoSite and GE as
well as a cross-license to the other party's patents asserted in
the lawsuits. The settlement agreement also includes a dispute
resolution process, designed to avoid future litigation between the
parties.
The companies have also agreed to form in a unique new
foundation aimed at funding clinical research, education and
training of best practices for point-of-care ultrasound. Other
terms of the settlement are confidential.
Commenting on the settlement, SonoSite President and CEO, Kevin
M. Goodwin said, "We are pleased with the outcome of this matter
and have now fully resolved all of our pending litigation with GE.
The agreement with GE is an important milestone in the development
of point-of-care ultrasound. It not only affirms the value of our
patents, but also will enable the expansion of our research program
for point-of-care ultrasound in medicine. We believe that this
resolution is positive for SonoSite, our customers, our partners
and the overall ultrasound industry.”
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 ten subsidiaries and a global
distribution network in over 100 countries. SonoSite’s small,
lightweight systems are expanding the use of ultrasound across the
clinical spectrum by cost-effectively bringing high performance
ultrasound to the point of patient care.
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