A Medical Device Daily

Diomed (Andover, Massachusetts) reported that Total Vein Solutions (Houston), a defendant in Diomed's patent infringement suit concerning U.S. Patent No. 6,398,777 covering its endovascular laser treatment for varicose veins, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday.

Last week Diomed reported that the court was set to hear its request for preliminary injunction against Total Vein on Friday.

"This represents yet another success in our efforts to defend our pioneering '777 patent regarding the treatment of varicose veins," said James Wylie, president/CEO of Diomed. "We believe that by taking this action, [Total Vein] has acknowledged the strength of Diomed's case."

In a separate 2006 hearing against defendants AngioDynamics (Queensbury, New York), and Vascular Solutions (Minneapolis), Judge Nathaniel Gorton ruled that Diomed's '777 patent is both valid and enforceable.

In the trial ending March 28, the jury found these two defendants liable for both inducing infringement and contributory infringement of Diomed's patent, the company said. Judge Gorton subsequently granted Diomed a permanent injunction against them and the company was awarded $14.7 million in damages.

In other legal news:

• The Securities and Exchange Commission filed insider trading charges against a former director of OrthoClear Holdings (San Francisco), alleging that he unlawfully netted nearly $1.5 million by trading on confidential company information.
  Without admitting or denying the allegations, Saiyed Atiq Raza, of Palo Alto, California, agreed to a settlement under which he will pay $2,977,842, including $1,450,900 in disgorgement of his trading profits; $76,042 in prejudgment interest; and a civil penalty of $1,450,900. Raza also agreed to a five-year officer and director bar and permanent injunction against future violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.
  The SEC said that Raza was informed in confidence by OrthoClear's CEO that the company had reached a settlement of long-running litigation that would benefit Align Technology (Santa Clara, California), its primary competitor in the transparent teeth-aligner market. Raza then bought Align securities before the settlement agreement became public.
• Paradigm Medical Industries (Salt Lake City), which makes glaucoma diagnostics, reported it has settled the last of its currently active lawsuits against it. The company disclosed it had reached an out-of-court settlement with Larry Hicks, a former consultant. Terms were not disclosed.
  In 2006, Paradigm resolved two suits filed by former employees via summary judgments in favor of Paradigm. The company also resolved several class-action suits out of court in 2005. All of these lawsuits, including Hicks and the class action suits, were filed in 2003.