F&P Healthcare overturns ResMed court action in Germany; shares jump

Friday 2nd December 2016

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which is battling rival ResMed over intellectual property for face and nasal masks, has succeeded in overturning the second of two preliminary injunctions against it in Germany, allowing the company to resume sales of the affected products in that country.

The District Court in Munich in August granted two preliminary injunctions preventing the sale of F&P Simplus, Eson and Eson 2 masks in Germany by F&P Healthcare's German subsidiary. The first injunction was overturned on Nov. 17, and the second on Dec. 1, allowing the company to resume sale of the products, Auckland-based F&P Healthcare said in a statement.

ResMed and F&P Healthcare are involved in a tit-for-tat dispute over intellectual property, with ResMed filing a patent infringement complaint in the Southern District of California as well as lawsuits in Germany and New Zealand, and to the US International Trade Commission against F&P Healthcare in relation to face and nasal masks, just days after the Kiwi company filed its own patent infringement lawsuit against the US company in the US District Court for the Central District of California relating to its flow generator products and masks.

“We are pleased with the outcome of the first two hearings in these patent dispute proceedings and we remain confident in regards to future proceedings," said F&P Healthcare managing director Lewis Gradon.

Fisher & Paykel told shareholders at its annual meeting in August that the company had been unable to resolve the IP dispute with ResMed after 18 months of talks, but said they were well prepared for the legal action which they wouldn't have taken unless they were "pretty confident" about winning. However, the company warned it could take a decade to be fully resolved.

Shares in F&P Healthcare jumped 6 percent to $8.70.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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