Aesthetic device company Alma Lasers Ltd., has filed a statement of defense against the patent infringement brought against it by rival Lumenis Ltd.. Alma Lasers said in the statement filed with the Tel Aviv District Court that the US Patent and Trademark Office recently dismissed 64 claims concerning all seven patents that Lumenis claims it has infringed. Lumenis sued Alma in the US in 2007.
Lumenis sued Alma Lasers and four of its founders in the Tel Aviv District Court for NIS 200 million, alleging that the four, all former employees, stole intellectual property covering the core technology behind its main product line, and later used it in Alma Lasers' Harmony laser and light treatment platform, now available worldwide.
Alma claims that Lumenis's law suit is nothing but a further act in a chain of desperate attempts by it to harm a leading competitor, through legal challenges. The company says the electronic components that Lumenis refers to in its claim as the core technology of its machines cannot be considered a "trade secret", or components which are copyright protected, since the know-how relating to them is common knowledge, is not innovative in anyway, and does not give Lumenis any competitive advantage.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 24, 2008
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