Extended-wear contact lens lawsuit resumes
ATLANTA CIBA Vision Corp. announced that its lawsuit against Bausch & Lomb for infringement of its extended-wear contact lens patents and trademark has been restarted by a ruling in the Gainesville, Ga., Federal District Court. In the same ruling, the court denied Bausch & Lombs summary judgment motion concerning CIBA Visions PureEyes trademark.
The lawsuit claims that Bausch & Lombs PureVision contact lenses infringe on CIBA Visions patents that protect the companys Focus Night & Day product, an extended-wear contact lens pending Food and Drug Administration approval. CIBA Vision is seeking to have the court prohibit Bausch & Lomb from continuing to sell PureVision, which was launched in the United States in March 1999.
The lawsuit also claims that Bausch & Lombs PureVision brand infringes on CIBA Visions PureEyes trademark.
After CIBA Vision filed the lawsuit in March 1999, Bausch & Lomb attempted to invalidate CIBA Visions four patents in four re-examination proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. After a review, the patent office decided to re-issue all four patents, confirming their validity.
Bausch & Lomb still disagrees. We are confident that CIBAs patents are invalid, said Margaret Graham, director of corporate communications for Bausch & Lomb. We are going to vigorously defend our proprietary technology rights. We are firmly standing behind our PureVision contact lens, which is the result of more than 10 years of dedicated proprietary research that we developed.
We are eager to bring this matter to resolution in court, Ms. Graham told Primary Care Optometry News.
The next step is the completion of the discovery process, said Scott Meece, CIBA Vision general counsel and group vice president for legal affairs, business development and licensing. This will include a number of depositions of CIBA Vision and Bausch & Lomb personnel, he said.
Mr. Meece told Primary Care Optometry News CIBA Vision hopes for a trial date early next year.
For Your Information:
- Margaret Graham is director of corporate communications for Bausch & Lomb. She can be reached at 1400 N. Goodman St., Rochester, NY 14609; (716) 338-5469; fax: (716) 338-0317; e-mail: margaret_graham@bausch.com.
- Scott Meece is general counsel and group vice president for legal affairs, business development and licensing for CIBA Vision. He can be reached at 11460 Johns Creek Pkwy., Duluth, GA 30097-1556; (678) 415-3646; fax: (678) 415-3592.