A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Suros Surgical Systems (Indianapolis), maker of the ATEC (Automated Tissue Excision and Collection) Breast Biopsy and Excision System, said that it has agreed to dismiss, without prejudice, a patent infringement lawsuit against SenoRx (Aliso Viejo, California) if SenoRx complies with the settlement in an agreed-upon timeframe. Terms stipulate that SenoRx must "immediately" modify the accused infringing product, the EnCor disposable breast biopsy system, and discontinue the manufacture and sale of the current version of the product by Oct. 31.

Suros's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in February 2005, alleged that the SenoRx breast biopsy device infringed on Suros's U.S. patent No. 5,997,560. Suros said that if SenoRx does not comply by the Oct. 31 deadline it will refile its claim.

In its statement on the agreement, SenoRx noted that there has been no admission of liability or any payments in the settlement but that it has agreed "to remove the transverse slot from the cutter of its EnCor breast biopsy device."

"We have already been manufacturing and selling the modified EnCor cutter in commercial quantities throughout 2006 and we do not believe the modification has any impact on the EnCor device," said Lloyd Malchow, company president and CEO.

Jim Pearson, Suros president and CEO, said, "We believe once the terms have been met we will have succeeded in achieving our goal of this infringement lawsuit."

Suros manufactures minimally invasive surgical platform technology for biopsy, tissue removal and biopsy site marking products.

SenoRx develops products focused on breast care.

ATCC (American Type Culture Collection; Manassas, Virginia) and Miclev (Limhamn-Malm , Sweden), a supplier of biotech diagnostics to the Scandinavian market, have settled a trademark infringement lawsuit concerning use of the trademark ATCC. ATCC charged that Miclev improperly used the mark ATCC in marketing its microorganisms.

ATCC said that its Licensed Derivative emblem ensures that microorganisms found in products carrying the emblem meet ATCC quality and safety standards.

"This legal action and subsequent settlement demonstrates that ATCC will aggressively pursue with all the means at our disposal any organization in the world that risks the integrity of our brand and the safety of the public by using ATCC microorganisms improperly," said Dr. Jesus Soriano, ATCC vice president of licensing, contracts and compliance.

ATCC, a not-for-profit biological resource center, provides biological materials for use under the terms of a material transfer agreement.

Miclev serves the pharmaceutical and biotech industries in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.