One day after receiving US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its LaserScan LSX excimer-laser system, LaserSight (Winter Park, FL) found itself facing a patent-infringement lawsuit.
One day after receiving US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its LaserScan LSX excimer-laser system, LaserSight (Winter Park, FL) found itself facing a patent-infringement lawsuit from one of its largest competitors in the vision-correction market: Visx. In papers filed in US District Court in Delaware on November 16, Visx alleges that the LaserScan system infringes its patent covering an apparatus for ophthalmic surgery. The news prompted LaserSight's stock to drop nearly $3/share on significantly heavier trading, while Visx stock jumped nearly $7 in one day.
The two companies have since agreed to suspend the patent litigation and continue negotiating a US license agreement. LaserSight says it does not believe its technology infringes Visx's patents, but has entered into license negotiations to help facilitate commercialization of its laser systems in the USA.
About the Author
Kathy Kincade
Contributing Editor
Kathy Kincade is the founding editor of BioOptics World and a veteran reporter on optical technologies for biomedicine. She also served as the editor-in-chief of DrBicuspid.com, a web portal for dental professionals.