Allergan sued over breast implant patent

Texas-based Almha has launched patent infringement lawsuits against four companies, including UK company Allergan, in relation to its patent covering a “breast implant with position lock”.

Almha holds US patent number 6,203,570, which was issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office to Almha’s chief technology officer and inventor of the implant John Baeke on March 20, 2001. Baeke sold the patent to Almha in 2012.

The patent covers a breast implant prosthesis that has anchoring components to keep it in place. The patent also provides location markers which ensure correct orientation of the implant during surgery and provide information about the implant position after the mammoplasty procedure.

Almha claims that Allergan, in its range of Natrelle breast implants, knowingly infringes its patent, and that Allergan induces direct infringement by others by creating and distributing marketing and instructional materials about how to infringe the patent.

In the complaint, Almha alleges that Allergan as well as other companies “repeatedly” cited the ‘570 patent in patent applications.

The other companies sued are breast implant makers Sientra, Mentor Worldwide and Specialty Surgical Products.

Almha has requested a jury trial, and seeks enhanced damages of up to three times the actual damages.

Allergan did not respond to a request for comment.