A Medical Device Daily

Imaging Diagnostic Systems (Fort Lauderdale; Florida) a developer of laser optical breast cancer imaging systems, reported that a patent, “Laser Imaging Apparatus Using Biomedical Markers That Bind to Cancer Cells” was issued to IMDS by the Chinese government.

The Chinese patent, ZL 99 8 16608.1, joins the Australian patent 775069, issued July 2004; European patent EP01181511, issued June 2005; Hong Kong patent HK1043480, issued January 2006; and German patent DE69925869, issued May 2006.

The patents, along with a previously issued Canadian patent, are equivalents of U.S. patent No. 5,952,644. They protect the concept of imaging and activating a photodynamic therapy agent in an optical CT scanner, a combined diagnostic and therapeutic system.

This is the second patent issued to IMDS in China.

In other patent news:

• e-Smart Technologies (New York), with its parent company IVI Smart Technologies (also New York), reported that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent for the company’s intelligent biometric identification card technology.

The patent, No. 7,278,025, titled “Secure Biometric Verification of Identity,” was issued to IVI, which has licensed the use of the technology to e-Smart.

The patent encompasses 27 separate claims relating to numerous aspects of the technology, including patent protection for “our intelligent identification card comprising an on-board sensor for capturing live biometric data” and an “on-board processor including a memory storing reference data,” which “compares the captured data with the stored data and generates a verification message if there is a match within a predetermined threshold,” the company said.

The patent also covers IVI’s method for capturing the biometric data and matching that captured data with reference data, and causing the card to perform a desired function only if the identity of the user is verified.

e-Smart Technologies is the exclusive supplier of the Biometric Verification Security system, the Super Smart Card system technology and related system technologies for Asia, Africa and the U.S., which e-Smart believes to be the world’s first smartcard of its kind with an on-card sensor and a full match on-card system and other unique technologies for secure biometric ID verification.

• Amended stem cell patent claims submitted by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF; Madison) don’t overcome the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner’s rejections and the claims remain unpatentable, two consumer groups said.

In formal comments filed last Friday, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) asked that the rejections first issued on March 30 by the U.S. PTO be made final.

“Stem cell science would be best served if WARF simply withdrew their overreaching claims,” said John Simpson, FTCR’s stem cell project director.

In July 2006 the FTCR and PUBPAT challenged three patents held by WARF because they are hindering stem cell research. Stem Cell Scientist Jeanne Loring supported the challenge, which led to the rejection of all claims of all three patents in March.