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Biotech / Medical : PLSIA (Premier Laser Systems) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kvogel who wrote (1455)	1/30/1998 8:28:00 PM
From: Kamil Etem	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1773

Karl, Thanks for the info and sorry for not responding sooner. Here's some news from BW, not exactly what I expected to read. I wanted to know about the acquisition of OISI. Still, I'm very bullish on the future for this technology in general, not only PLSIA. IRVINE, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 30, 1998--Premier Laser Systems Inc. (NASDAQ/NM:PLSIA) and privately held Interdent Inc. of Los Angeles, Friday announced that the two companies have filed counterclaims against BriteSmile Inc., alleging that BriteSmile's laser bleaching patent, U.S. Patent No. 5,645,428 is invalid and unenforceable. BriteSmile is a wholly owned subsidiary of Salt Lake City-based Ion Laser Technology Inc. (ASE:ILT). The BriteSmile patent claims as its invention a laser bleaching procedure involving the application of a dental bleaching composition to a patient's teeth, followed by the exposure of the composition to laser energy to accelerate the action of the bleaching agent. As alleged in the counterclaims, the same procedure has been practiced commercially by dentists since long before BriteSmile and its founder, Dr. David Yarborough, ever thought of it. As a result, BriteSmile's patent is invalid, according to Premier Laser and its attorneys. Premier and Interdent also alleged that BriteSmile and Dr. Yarborough knew that dentists had been practicing this procedure, but never informed the Patent and Trademark Office of this in violation of their duty of candor. By withholding such information, BriteSmile and Dr. Yarborough committed fraud on the Patent Office, also called "inequitable conduct," which renders the patent unenforceable, according to Premier Laser and its attorneys. With this evidence, Premier Laser and Interdent intend to file a motion for summary judgment seeking invalidation of the patent and a determination that BriteSmile committed inequitable conduct. Premier and Interdent will also ask the court to declare this to be an exceptional case and to award them their attorneys' fees. The counterclaims are a response to the filing of a complaint for patent infringement by BriteSmile against Premier and Interdent. "This is a suit that should never have been filed by BriteSmile," stated Ken Rosenblood, president of Interdent. "Dentists have been using an argon laser to activate Shofu Dental Corporation bleaching compositions for years," he said. "There are written directions for this procedure which were publicly available over a year before BriteSmile filed its patent application." It is apparent that BriteSmile initiated this lawsuit as a reaction to increased competition and market leadership from Premier in the dental bleaching market, according to Premier Laser and its attorneys. BriteSmile has also embarked on a campaign of harassing Premier's customers in an effort to unfairly take sales away from Premier, according to Premier Laser and its attorneys. "We will take aggressive action to prevent this harassing behavior from continuing," said Dr. Colette Cozean, president of Premier. "We will not tolerate BriteSmile's continued brandishing of a clearly invalid patent among the industry in order to intimidate our loyal customers." Interdent manufactures and markets professional dental whitening systems including take home systems, Contrast PM, Contrast AM, and in office systems Quasarbrite, and Starbrite; all systems are sold exclusively through the dental dealer network. Premier Laser Systems develops, manufactures and markets several lines of proprietary medical and dental lasers, fiber optic delivery systems and associated products for a variety of dental, opthalmic, dermatological and surgical applications.