| By I-Flow Corporation - LAKE FOREST, Calif. |
| Monday, 13 October 2008 |
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I-Flow Corporation (NASDAQ: IFLO) continues to enforce its patent and trade secret rights against Apex Medical Technologies, Inc. and its president, Mark McLaughlin, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. |
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I-Flow is also enforcing its patent rights against distributors of Apex’s Solace® Pump, including Zone Medical, LLC. In view of early successes achieved in the lawsuit in the Southern District of California, I-Flow will ask the Court to rule, as a legal matter, that Apex, McLaughlin and Zone have infringed the patent. I-Flow is also vigorously moving forward in the case to protect its valuable trade secrets.
In response to the litigation brought by I-Flow, the defendants asked the United States Patent and Trademark Office to reexamine I-Flow’s patent. The Patent Office routinely grants such requests and often times initially rejects previously issued patent claims. The Patent Office has taken this action after receiving Apex’s position on the patent without input from I-Flow. I-Flow will now have an opportunity |
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to present its position to the Patent Office in support of the patentability of the patent-in-suit, US Patent No. 5,284,481 (“the ’481 patent”). I-Flow believes that, once its position has been presented to the Patent Office, the Patent Office will reconfirm the patent as it did in 1994 when it issued the ’481 patent. Indeed, the primary prior art relied on by Apex, McLaughlin and Zone in the reexamination process that I-Flow has not yet participated in, and relied upon by the Patent Office in rejecting the claims, is in fact technology owned by I-Flow.
“While we believe we have a strong case against Apex, it is important to note that our success is not built solely around one patent,” said Donald M. Earhart, Chairman, President and CEO of I-Flow. “Our success is based on a total package that includes a high quality disposable pump, a patented silver-coated soaker catheter, more than 60 clinical studies, our FDA-cleared indications that ON-Q® significantly reduces the need for narcotics and provides better pain relief than narcotics alone following surgery and, last but not least, our unsurpassed surgical sales force that spans the U.S. No other company in the market today even comes close to matching the breadth of our quality product line and the strength |
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of our distribution. This is why we are the leader in this space.”
I-Flow continues to believe that Apex, McLaughlin and distributors of the Solace® Pump, such as Zone, infringe the ’481 patent and I-Flow will continue to protect its patent, as well as its valuable trade secrets, in the Courts.
About I-Flow
I-Flow Corporation (www.IFLO.com) is improving surgical outcomes by designing, developing and marketing technically-advanced, low-cost drug delivery systems and innovative surgical products for post-surgical pain relief and surgical site care. For more information on I-Flow Corporation visit I-Flow Corporation Website.
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