A Medical Device Daily

Cardiac Science (Bothell, Washington) reported the settlement of its long-standing patent litigation with Philips (Amsterdam, the Netherlands).

All claims by each side have been dismissed, and the companies granted rights to each other for the defibrillation/technology patents that were a part of the suit. In addition, Cardiac Science has been granted a perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide license to certain other defibrillation patents of Philips not associated with the suit in exchange for a one-time payment of $1 million.

"We believe that settling this dispute and licensing the additional intellectual property will provide greater benefit than continuing to invest in the highly uncertain litigation process," said John Hinson, president/CEO of Cardiac Science.

Cardiac Science brought the patent suit against Philips in early 2003 (Medical Device Daily, Aug. 10, 2005).

Cardiac Science develops diagnostic and therapeutic cardiology systems, including AEDs, electrocardiographs, stress test systems, Holter monitoring systems, hospital defibrillators, cardiac rehabilitation telemetry systems, patient monitor-defibrillators and cardiology data management systems.

In other legalities: Mobile Aspects (Pittsburgh) said it has received a patent for its iRISupply clinical resource management solution.

Implemented in clinical areas such as interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and surgical specialties such as cardiovascular surgery and endovascular surgery, the cabinet-based iRISupply system is designed to enable the provision of real-time information to effectively store, track, and manage the high-cost inventories used in surgical procedures.

The patent covers a product design with multiple shelving levels, deployed in an open or closed cabinet configuration, which creates stronger reading fields to ensure the highest levels of read accuracy and reliability, according to Mobile Aspects. In addition to the patent received, several additional patents on Mobile Aspects' technology have been filed and are pending approval, the company noted.

"Receiving a patent for the unique design of our iRISupply system validates our efforts to be on the leading-edge of creating RFID-enabled systems that provide value for our clients," said Suneil Mandava, president/CEO of Mobile Aspects.

"We continue to hear a growing sentiment from hospitals that they are extremely interested in applying RFID technology to address operational issues and we are enthusiastic that our patent-protected technology has us well positioned to capitalize on this high level of interest."

The IRISupply system is part of the Mobile Aspects One System of CARE solution, which employs identification and information technologies to automate processes for clinical resource management by healthcare providers, the company said. One System of CARE uses Texas Instruments' (Dallas) Tag-it HF-I portfolio of high-frequency ISO/IEC 15693 RFID tags.

By automating the storage, tracking, utilization, and billing of clinical resources through RFID, healthcare providers realize enhanced care quality, increased productivity, accurate billing, and significant inventory cost savings, Moblie Aspects said.