USITC issues judgment in cholesterol testing strips dispute
The US International Trade Commission ( ITC) has issued a judgment after a surgical appliances company, Polymer Technology Systems ( PTS), filed a complaint against a China-based competitor.
In a ruling on Tuesday, June 4, the ITC said blood cholesterol testing strips sold by ACON Biotech and ACON Laboratories infringe two patents (US numbers 7,087,397 and 7,625,721) owned by PTS.
In April 2018, PTS submitted a complaint to the USITC claiming that ACON’s blood cholesterol testing strips infringed three of its patents (US numbers 7,087,397; 7,625,721; and 7,494,818).
The strips are part of the “Mission Cholesterol Monitoring System” sold by ACON, which is designed to provide on-the-spot blood cholesterol results in place of traditional testing at a medical laboratory.
PTS said the import and sale of the strips into the US infringes a system owned by PTS and covered by its patents. The PTS systems tests for total cholesterol levels including low- and high-density lipoproteins in the blood.
The ITC did not find ACON had infringed the ‘818 patent.
Ken Parker and Robert Ziemian, partners at Haynes and Boone who led the litigation against ACON, said the ruling was an “important step” towards PTS obtaining an order which would stop ACON’s product from being imported into the US.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
