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Biotech / Medical : Eye Laser Industry - VISX and Summit BEAM Info
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To: Sam Citron who wrote (149)12/19/1996 12:02:00 AM
From: John Binford, Jr.   of 178
 
Someone brought up the Azema patents lawsuit. Well, Visx believes that they do not infringe any of the Azema patents. To my knowledge, Visx or its predecessor was sued in Europe by the former owners of the Azema patents and Visx prevailed. The patents were then shopped around and Visx thought the patents worthless and that Visx didn't infringe them, and so Visx did not try to buy the patents. Muller from Summit decided to buy them for $7 million, since in my understanding Summit's laser may infringe and Muller wanted to use the patents as leverage to obtain a better PPP breakdown with Visx here in the U.S.

As for the lawsuit, I believe the first hearing was postponed until April of May. So, nothing at all will happen until then. I for one think that this lawsuit is a non-event except for the press that Summit can try to get out of it. It is a waste of both Summit's and Visx's money to even take the issue to court. Summit seems to be still playing dirty. Remember, they are trying to cheat Visx out of equipment royalties that are part of the PPP agreement and are now being sued by Visx for the $4.5 million dollars that they owe. The latest press release on the APEX plus seems to me to be only a ploy to try to avoid current Summit owners taking up Visx on its offer to trade in the laser for a $175,000 discount on a Visx laser. None of the doctor's want to use the ablatable mask when excellent results can be obtained from the laser alone.
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