Patent dispute filed by biomedical company

GALVESTON - BioTex Inc. alleges Heildelberg Engineering Inc. infringed upon a patent for a concept both parties developed about a decade ago, recent court documents say.

A lawsuit filed July 5 in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas argues that Heildelberg disregarded BioTex's property rights in connection with U.S. Patent No. 6,507,747, which was issued in January 2003 for "Method and Apparatus for Concomitant Structural and Biochemical Characterization of Tissue."

The original petition insists the defendant is unauthorized to manufacture, use, sale, offer to sale or import into the U.S. for subsequent use or sale of infringing products, methods, processes, services and systems that operate using its spectral domain optical coherence tomography, including the Spectralis HRA-OCT.

BioTex says Heildelberg's alleged actions threaten the value of the intellectual property because it has lost its lawful patent rights to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the patented inventions.

The complainant adds that its relationships with potential licensees of said intellectual property are similarly threatened and stresses it will suffer irreparable harm should the respondent continue infringing.

BioTex's subsequent efforts to stop Heildelberg were unsuccessful, according to the suit.

A jury trial is requested.

DiNovo Price Ellwanger & Hardy LLP is representing the plaintiff, and U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt is presiding over the case.

Case No. 3:11-cv-309