A Medical Device Daily

Church & Dwight (Princeton, New Jersey) reported that it has won a favorable ruling in an infringement action against Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey involving pregnancy tests marketed by Abbott under its Fact Plus trademark.

Church & Dwight asserted that Abbott had infringed three of its patents through the sale of Fact Plus pregnancy tests from April 1999 through the end of September 2003.

A jury unanimously upheld the validity of all asserted patent claims, finding that Abbott had willfully infringed each of those claims. The jury awarded Church & Dwight damages of $14.6 million.

Church & Dwight, a manufacturer of personal care, household and specialty products, was represented by Proskauer Rose.

In other legal news: The marketers of the 7 Day Miracle Cleanse Program, an herbal colon-cleansing system, have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they falsely claimed that the program would cure cancer and other serious diseases.

The settlements ban 7 Day Marketing (Pico Rivera, California) from involvement in future infomercials for any product, service or program and from advertising health-related products in the future in any way.

The FTC’s complaint said that one of the defendants, Paris DeAguero, appeared as “the Health Man” in nationally televised infomercials, claiming that his program cured him within weeks of skin and breast cancer, without the need for surgery or other treatments. Advertising for the program claimed that it also prevented, treated and cured many other diseases, including AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis, and that it caused rapid and substantial weight loss.