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4 July 2017Americas

Ocusoft drops case against Walgreens over eye care products

Eye care company Ocusoft has dropped its allegations over false advertising and patent infringement against Walgreens, a US-based pharmacy store chain.

The US District Court for the Southern District of Texas handed down its order on joint stipulation of dismissal on Friday, June 30.

According to the order, the case has been dismissed with prejudice and each party must bear its own costs and fees.

Ocusoft sued Walgreens in April, seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction over a number of claims, also including unfair competition.

The dispute centred on eyelid cleansing pads and US patent number 7,951,387, titled “Eyelid scrub composition”, which Ocusoft claimed had been infringed.

Walgreens had allegedly placed Ocusoft’s products next to its own private-label eyelid cleansing pads in its stores.

The store also allegedly compared its products’ ingredients to Ocusoft’s by placing written statements stating “Compare to Ocusoft Lid Scrub Original ingredients” in front of the products.

Ocusoft said in its complaint: “As can be seen by comparing these ingredients with Ocusoft’s Lid Scrub Original formula, the formula used in Walgreens’ Original Pads differs from that of Ocusoft’s Lid Scrub Original formula.”

The company further alleged that some of Walgreens’ employees falsely promoted Walgreens’ private-label products as being identical to Ocusoft’s products.

But following the joint stipulation, the case has now been dismissed. Details on the agreement between the companies were not disclosed.

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