Smiths Medical ASD, Inc. Sues Rocket Medical plc on Embryo Replacement Catheter Technology
On July 3, 2013, Smiths Medical ASD, Inc. sued Rocket Medical plc in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Smiths Medical’s complaint alleges that Rocket Medical’s embryo replacement catheters infringe U.S. Patent No. 8,092,390 entitled “Medico-Surgical Devices.”
The Abstract of the ‘390 Patent describes a catheter in which “[g]as bubbles of a diameter in the range of 5µ to 10µ are incorporated into the thickness of the wall of the shaft by adding gas during extrusion. The bubbles are selected to increase the visibility of the catheter under ultrasound imaging whilst still enabling material flowing along the catheter to be seen.” Figure 2 from the ‘390 Patent is shown below:
Smiths Medical is a division of Smiths Group plc, which is headquartered in London. According to their website, Smiths Medical supplies a variety of medical devices for hospital and home use. Rocket Medical is also headquartered in the UK, and according to their website manufactures a range of single use medical devices. The complaint and patent at issue are available here.
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