A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

SonoSite (Bothell, Washington) a developer of in hand-carried ultrasound at the point of care, said that GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on May 22 seeking to invalidate SonoSite's U.S. patent No. 5,722,412, "Hand Held Ultrasonic Diagnostic Instrument" (the '412 patent).

SonoSite said it has performed a preliminary assessment of the case and believes GE's claim is baseless and without merit.

"GE's latest filing is yet another attempt to slow our strong momentum," said Kevin Goodwin, SonoSite president/CEO. "Our momentum is growing because our small, innovative hand-carried systems are having a significant global impact on patient safety and the cost of healthcare. Because GE is not winning with product innovation or customers, they challenge us in the courts yet again by filing another meritless lawsuit. We strongly believe that there is no legal basis for this lawsuit and we will proceed firmly ahead to defend our legal rights. We will continue to invest in customer-centered innovation, education and service while remaining focused on the needs of clinicians at the point of care."

This is the second lawsuit that GE has filed against SonoSite alleging patent infringement. GE sued SonoSite in the same federal court in Wisconsin last year, alleging that the company infringed certain GE patents.

SonoSite has denied all of GE's claims and alleged that the asserted patents are either invalid, not infringed, or both. SonoSite has filed counterclaims asserting that GE and its affiliated companies infringe four SonoSite patents covering various core ultrasound-related technologies.