GIVEN IMAGING SUED FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT

Olympus and its subsidiaries including Olympus Medical System are seeking a declaratory judgment against Given Imaging as part of a claim of patent infringement related to its PillCam capsule, Given said May 23. The company is headquartered in Yogneam, Israel.

The complaint by Olympus has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Given says its PillCam does not infringe or use any invention claimed by Olympus. The filing follows an April 7 decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that confirmed the validity of 13 of Given's original 17 claims of its patent '531 -- titled "High Frequency, Low Power Light Source for Video Camera" -- Given said. The patent expires in December 2008.

The PillCam capsule is a single-use video color-imaging capsule that is ingested, glides naturally through the digestive tract and is naturally excreted.

Olympus is also seeking a declaratory judgment that its capsule endoscopy system does not infringe a Given patent. Olympus is still conducting clinical trials and does not have FDA clearance to market the system in the U.S.