KCI HEADS TO COURT IN PATENT DISPUTE

Kinetic Concepts Inc.'s future will be tested in a six-week federal trial that begins today against two companies KCI claims infringed on its patents and trademarks. San Antonio-based KCI derives about 75 percent of its $1.2 billion in revenue from a wound-care device known as VAC, or vacuum assisted closure. It sued Bluesky Medical Inc. in 2003 for marketing a similar suction product called Versatile 1 and associated wound care dressings. San Antonio Express News (http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA053106.1E.BIZkci.patent.170fc6c4.html)