PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 20, 2004 LAWFUEL – Best law news, patent, legal, attorney, law firm news On September 15, 2004, The US
District Court for the District of Delaware rendered a decision in favor of
CorCell, Inc. and three co-defendants, rejecting PharmaStem Therapeutics, Inc.
claims of patent infringement. With regard to PharmaStem’s US Patent (No.
5,192,553, the ‘553 patent), the Court overturned the October 2003 jury
verdict for patent infringement and denied PharmaStem’s request for enhanced
damages and an injunction against the defendants.
Reversing the jury’s verdict, the new judgment entered by the Court holds
that CorCell and other cord blood banks are not, and cannot be, liable for
patent infringement, because they do not sell, or offer for sale, umbilical
cord blood. The Court’s decision decisively rejects PharmaStem’s effort to
prevent CorCell and the other co-defendants from processing and storing
umbilical cord blood for families. In recent communications to obstetricians,
hospitals and health care providers, PharmaStem threatened legal action
against providers if they continued to collect cord blood for CorCell and the
co-defendants.
The clear implication of this ruling is that obstetricians and other
health care providers who simply collect umbilical cord blood for
cryopreservation, cannot be liable for contributory infringement of any
PharmaStem patent. The Court declared that a child’s family owns the child’s
umbilical cord blood and the private blood banks provide a service, processing
and preserving the cord blood for the families.
With regard to PharmaStem’s US Patent (No. 5,004,681, the ‘681 patent) the
judge granted CorCell and the co-defendants a new trial on the issues of
infringement and damages, finding that the jury’s 2003 verdict was “against
the great weight of the evidence.” Moreover, the US Patent and Trademark
Office decided to reexamine the validity of both the ‘553 and ‘681 patents.
In a separate proceeding, the European Patent Office further denied PharmaStem
a grant of these same patents.
“These actions by the court are a clear victory for CorCell, physicians
and families, and for the very promising future of the cord blood banking
industry,” said Marcia Laleman, CorCell CEO. “We applaud the Court’s decision
and remain confident in our belief that CorCell has not infringed any patent.
We fully expect that both patents will be invalidated, and that all related
claims will be found to be unenforceable. The Court’s ruling should end
PharmaStem’s intimidation of obstetricians as they serve the needs of their
patients by collecting cord blood. It is clear that participation in the
service of collecting and preserving cord blood does not infringe any
PharmaStem Patent.” The court’s order can be viewed at:
http://www.ded.uscourts.gov/GMSmain.htm .
About CorCell, Inc.
CorCell, Inc., headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a national
leader in private family cord blood banking and stores its cord blood
collections in its internationally known, American Association of Blood Banks’
accredited facility, which has transplanted 24 cord blood units to date. For
more information contact Joan Horvath at 1-215-599-8402 or visit
http://www.corcell.com. CorCell is a registered trademark. CorCell is a
wholly owned subsidiary of VITA 34 INTERNATIONAL AG.
SOURCE CorCell, Inc.
Web Site: http://www.corcell.com
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