A Medical Device Daily

Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, California) has filed a lawsuit against Elekta (Stockholm, Sweden) in a U.S. state court in Texas. Varian claims that Elekta employees improperly gained access to Varian trade secret information. In the lawsuit, Varian claims that two former Varian sales representatives, recently hired by Elekta, have inappropriately taken information and shared alleged trade secret information with a few Elekta employees in the late spring 2012. Elekta says it intends to defend itself against the allegations made by Varian.

Elekta develops tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care.

Varian makes medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, and brachytherapy.

In other legal news, Illumina (San Diego) said District Judge Sue Robinson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware granted Illumina's motion for summary judgment of invalidity of U.S. Patent No. 7,593,109, a patent asserted by Helicos BioSciences (Cambridge, Massachusetts) in a lawsuit filed against Illumina in October 2010. Judge Robinson ruled that the '109 patent was invalid for inadequate written description.

The '109 patent was the last remaining patent of three patents originally asserted by Helicos in the lawsuit against certain of Illumina's sequencing products. Earlier this year, Helicos voluntarily dismissed with prejudice the two other patents in the suit, and provided Illumina covenants not to sue on those patents with no payment from Illumina.

Jay Flatley, Illumina's president/CEO, said, “We are pleased that the court sided with Illumina in this lawsuit and found that the '109 patent was invalid. The court's ruling on the '109 patent, and Helicos's voluntary dismissal of the other patents in the suit, vindicates our position that we do not infringe any valid Helicos patent. While we respect valid and enforceable intellectual property rights of others, Illumina will continue to vigorously defend against unfounded claims of infringement.“

Illumina makes life science tools and integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and function.