German Court Rules for ResMed in Patent Infringement Lawsuit

San Diego, Calif.-based ResMed won another round in its patent infringement battle against Apex Medical, securing a permanent injunction from that German court that prevents the Taiwanese devicemaker from selling its breathing therapy headgear in that country.

The ruling comes on the heels of an import ban imposed by the U.S. International Trade Commission on continuous positive airway pressure machines marketed by Apex and its U.S. distributor, Medical Depot, in response to a ResMed complaint.

The German injunction, by the Regional Court of Munich, applies to the Apex WiZARD 210 and 220 CPAP sleep breathing therapy face masks. According to ResMed, Apex must forfeit any inventory it has in Germany and pay undisclosed damages. The same court issued temporary injunctions against Apex last November.

Apex said Tuesday that it will appeal the German judgment.

ResMed has filed additional lawsuits in the German court seeking damages and permanent injunctions on the Apex iCH and XT Fit CPAP devices. Those trials are slated for sometime this fall, the company said.

Spokeswoman Gretchen Griswold told Device Daily Bulletin that ResMed will continue to evaluate where its CPAP patent is being infringed on a market-by-market basis.

The company is pleased that its intellectual property continues to be validated by courts both within and outside the U.S., Griswold said. “For 25 years, we have pioneered innovations that represent giant leaps forward in comfortable, patient-centric therapy products for sleep-disordered breathing, a condition where comfort is the critical factor in keeping patients on therapy. We are concerned about look-alike products that don’t reflect that same care for the patient that ResMed products do.” — Kellen Owings

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