Cytyc heads to court in April
Battle with competitor languishes
Marlboro-based Cytyc expects to be in court next month fighting patent claims brought against the company by TriPath Imaging Inc.
According to Cytyc, which makes women's health therapy, treatment and testing products, the claims made by TriPath "are without merit."
In its original suit, which dates from 2003, TriPath claims patent infringement regarding Cytyc's top product, the ThinPrep System cervical cancer screening test.
TriPath also makes cervical cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment products.
According to Cytyc, TriPath filed the patent suit a day after Cytyc filed suit for a declaratory judgement in U.S. District Court asking the court to determine that certain TriPath patents are invalid and not infringed upon by the ThinPrep system.
TriPath originally claimed patent infringement, false advertising, defamation, intentional interference, unfair competition, and unfair and deceptive trade practices.
The non-patent claims against Cytyc have been dismissed, according to Cytyc.
A trial in the matter is scheduled to begin April 7 in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, according to a filing by Cytyc with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
One analyst said it's hard to make sense of the Cytyc-TriPath fight, which came to a boil long before any lawsuits were filed.
"There have been so many iterations of this, and these guys have been duking it out for such a long time," said Jayson Bedford, an analyst who follows Cytyc for Raymond James & Associates.
Becton Dickinson, a New Jersey-based medical devices manufacturer, bought TriPath late in 2006, and announced that it would "continue driving TriPath Imaging's cervical cancer screening business, and align their innovative new technologies with BD's existing business strategies."
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