Dave, I echo your concerns about Fonar's ability to make money from these great patents and machines. No matter how good the machine, they will not sell themselves. In the past, the company has shown little ability to make a profit from anything other than lawsuits and speaking engagements.
However, just like OJ Simpson breaking through the line of scrimage (okay, bad example), Fonar may be clearing the way from these settlements and judgements to grab a much, much bigger share of the pie. Let's take the major player's that you mentioned:
General Electric - Judgement for 62 Million against for patent infringement. Appeal arguments set for Oct. 8th. Biggest date in little Fonar's history. Fonar is a pretty safe bet to win again.
Philips and Hitachi both settled for undisclosed amount, undisclosed terms.
Seimens and Toshiba both being sued by Fonar and currently in discovery phase.
The impact of these lawsuits will be felt on the entire MRI industry for many, many years. Each one of these cases involve infringement on technology which will be critical for future sales of MRI. Technology such as Multi Angle Oblique scanning, open MRI (Fonar's MRI magnet patents) and Cancer detection. The newest patents by Fonar may have equal significance. Patents on Breast scanning, SMART scan and motion detection patents may have a major impact on sales. As I understand it, GE was slapped with an injunction from selling any more scanners using MAO technology. They are number 1 in MRI sales, right? I'm assuming all other companies will face similar restrictions if patents are indeed enforced by courts and these previous settlements.
Enter Fonar. Little Fonar. Open field running is required at this phase of ballgame. Is Damadian qualified to run with the ball??? With lawsuits that may take important technological features away from the competition, they may have created a hole in the line big enough for my Grandmother to run through. But I digress.
Does anyone else have a take on this? The way I see it played out is that Fonar wins appeal. Toshiba and Philips then beg for mercy if they are dumb enough to wait until after appeal to pony up with a settlement. Question would then be; to what extent have all the other major players lost their ability to successfully market and sell their scanners as a result of whatever restrictions are placed on them by new agreements and to what extent can Fonar capitalize on these restrictions? Also unknown; given open football field, can Damadian go the distance to score a touchdown by gearing up manufacturing, keeping costs down and actually producing a real product with real profits or will he trip over his shoelaces? I agree that they have done a miserable job with public relations thus far. |
