Conceptus Inc. (NSDQ:CPTS) and Hologic Inc. (NSDQ:HOLX) agreed to narrow the scope of a patent infringement lawsuit over their respective female sterilization treatments, dropping all unfair competition claims and counter-claims from the case.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Conceptus sued its Bedford, Mass.-based competitor in May 2009, alleging infringement of five patents for its Essure female sterilization system.
Essure, the company’s sole product, uses a flexible coil partly made of copper to permanently block the fallopian tubes. The device is delivered via a trans-cervical catheter. Late last year Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for Northern California denied a Conceptus motion seeking a preliminary injunction barring Hologic from bringing its Adiana treatment to market. That system, which won 510(k) clearance from the Food & Drug Administration in July 2009, also uses a small insert to occlude the fallopian tubes. But the Adiana procedure first applies radiofrequency energy to small sections of the tube, before a silicone plug is implanted.
This week Alsup granted both companies’ motion to drop the unfair competition portions of the case, according to court documents, limiting the case to its patent infringement claims.
In a separate case on its home turf, Hologic fought back against rival Conceptus, accusing its rival of falsely marking the Essure as protected by patents owned by Hologic in a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts.