We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

German Court Finds in Favor of Puritan in Patent Infringement Case

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 06 Aug 2014

Copan Italia patent infingement claims against Puritan were dismissed by the District Court in Düsseldorf (Germany) at an oral hearing on June 24, 2014, where the court made clear that Puritan’s HydraFlock and PurFlock Ultra flocked swab products are flocked differently and do not have the fiber arrangement claimed by Copan.

Copan Italia SpA (Brecia, Italy; www.copanitalia.com) had started inspection proceedings against Puritan Medical Products Co., LLC (Guilford, MA, USA; www.puritanmedproducts.com) on November 7, 2012, based on an alleged infringement of claim 1 of German utility model DE 20 2004 021 787. Claim 1 relates to flocked swabs and requires that the swabs be covered with fiber deposited by flocking in an ordered arrangement normal to the surface of the swab.

The Court’s findings are particularly relevant since the asserted ‘787 utility model is a branch-off from Copan’s European patent EP 1 608 268 B1 relating to the same invention which also requires fibers deposited by flocking in an ordered arrangement of the fibers normal to the surface of the swab. Thus, it can be concluded from the Court’s clear position regarding the ‘787 that Puritan’s HydraFlock and PurFlock Ultra flocked swabs are also outside the scope of Copan’s European patent.

All of Copan’s German utility models relating to flocked swabs3 expired at the end of March 2014 and are irrelevant for sales from that date forward. Therefore, Puritan and Puritan’s customers have unprejudiced freedom to sell Puritan’s HydraFlock and PurFlock Ultra flocked swabs in Europe without concern for Copan’s European patent or expired utility models.

Puritan Medical Products is an American manufacturer of single-use products for the healthcare, diagnostic, forensic, critical environment, food safety, and drug manufacturing industries.

Related Links:

Puritan Medical Products
Copan Italia

Visit expo >

Gold Member

Veterinary Hematology Analyzer

Exigo H400

Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels

New

Ultra-Low Temperature Freezer

iUF118-GX

New

Creatine Kinase-MB Assay

CK-MB Test

Latest Industry News

Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel

Image: QIP-MS could predict and detect myeloma relapse earlier compared to currently used techniques (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Mass Spectrometry-Based Monitoring Technique to Predict and Identify Early Myeloma Relapse

Myeloma, a type of cancer that affects the bone marrow, is currently incurable, though many patients can live for over 10 years after diagnosis. However, around 1 in 5 individuals with myeloma have a high-risk... Read more

Image: The tiny clay-based materials can be customized for a range of medical applications (Photo courtesy of Angira Roy and Sam O’Keefe)

‘Brilliantly Luminous’ Nanoscale Chemical Tool to Improve Disease Detection

Thousands of commercially available glowing molecules known as fluorophores are commonly used in medical imaging, disease detection, biomarker tagging, and chemical analysis. They are also integral in... Read more

Image: The research team has developed the uCR-Chip device to enhance kidney function testing (Photo courtesy of University of Manitoba)

Low-Cost Portable Screening Test to Transform Kidney Disease Detection

Millions of individuals suffer from kidney disease, which often remains undiagnosed until it has reached a critical stage. This silent epidemic not only diminishes the quality of life for those affected... Read more

New Method Uses Pulsed Infrared Light to Find Cancer's 'Fingerprints' In Blood Plasma

Cancer diagnoses have traditionally relied on invasive or time-consuming procedures like tissue biopsies. Now, new research published in ACS Central Science introduces a method that utilizes pulsed infrared... Read more

Molecular Diagnostics

view channel

Genetic-Based Tool Predicts Survival Outcomes of Pancreatic Cancer Patients

A tumor marker is a substance found in the body that may signal the presence of cancer. These substances, which can include proteins, genes, molecules, or other biological compounds, are either produced... Read more

Image: Prostate cancer can be diagnosed at an early stage through a simple urine sample (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Urine Test Diagnoses Early-Stage Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of death among men worldwide. A major challenge in diagnosing the disease is the absence of reliable biomarkers that can detect early-stage tumors.... Read more

Image: Umbilical cord blood can provide clues to preventable health issues later in life (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

New Genetic Tool Analyzes Umbilical Cord Blood to Predict Future Disease

Children are experiencing metabolic problems at increasingly younger ages, placing them at higher risk for serious health issues later in life. There is a growing need to identify this risk from birth... Read more

Image: Researchers showed that misfolding of alpha-synuclein can accurately detect Parkinson’s in CSF (Photo courtesy of Ruhr University Bochum)

Spinal Fluid Biomarker for Parkinson’s Disease Offers Early and Accurate Diagnosis

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition typically diagnosed at an advanced stage based on clinical symptoms, primarily motor disorders. However, by this time, the brain has already undergone... Read more

Hematology

view channel

Image: The 3-parameter CCRS model was devised specifically for patients diagnosed with clonal cytopenia (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

New Scoring System Predicts Risk of Developing Cancer from Common Blood Disorder

Clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance (CCUS) is a blood disorder commonly found in older adults, characterized by mutations in blood cells and a low blood count, but without any obvious cause or... Read more

Image: The technology has the unique ability to detect challenging RhD variants that are typically excluded by other commercial tests (Photo courtesy of BillionToOne)

Non-Invasive Prenatal Test for Fetal RhD Status Demonstrates 100% Accuracy

In the United States, approximately 15% of pregnant individuals are RhD-negative. However, in about 40% of these cases, the fetus is also RhD-negative, making the administration of RhoGAM unnecessary.... Read more

Image: Leukocyte count represents an easily accessible, inexpensive clinical marker (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

WBC Count Could Predict Severity of COVID-19 Symptoms

The global health crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to impact millions of people worldwide, with many experiencing persistent symptoms months after the initial diagnosis. Cognitive impairment... Read more

Image: The high precision platelet counting technology reduces risks that can lead to errors in cancer diagnoses (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

New Platelet Counting Technology to Help Labs Prevent Diagnosis Errors

Accurate platelet count testing is a significant challenge for laboratories. Inaccurate results can lead to misdiagnosis, missed diagnoses, and delayed treatment for a variety of potentially fatal conditions,... Read more

Immunology

view channel

Image: The cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments (Photo courtesy of University of Cincinnati)

Stem Cell Test Predicts Treatment Outcome for Patients with Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer

Epithelial ovarian cancer frequently responds to chemotherapy initially, but eventually, the tumor develops resistance to the therapy, leading to regrowth. This resistance is partially due to the activation... Read more

Machine Learning-Enabled Blood Test Predicts Immunotherapy Response in Lymphoma Patients

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has emerged as one of the most promising recent developments in the treatment of blood cancers. However, over half of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients... Read more

Post-Treatment Blood Test Could Inform Future Cancer Therapy Decisions

In the ongoing advancement of personalized medicine, a new study has provided evidence supporting the use of a tool that detects cancer-derived molecules in the blood of lung cancer patients years after... Read more

Cerebrospinal Fluid Test Predicts Dangerous Side Effect of Cancer Treatment

In recent years, cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a promising approach where the patient's immune system is harnessed to fight cancer. One form of immunotherapy, called CAR-T-cell therapy, involves... Read more

Microbiology

view channel

Image: CRP protein in cerebrospinal fluid was found to be a very reliable indicator of bacterial meningitis (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

New Test Diagnoses Bacterial Meningitis Quickly and Accurately

Bacterial meningitis is a potentially fatal condition, with one in six patients dying and half of the survivors experiencing lasting symptoms. Therefore, rapid diagnosis and treatment are critical.... Read more

Image: The lab-in-tube assay could improve TB diagnoses in rural or resource-limited areas (Photo courtesy of Kenny Lass/Tulane University)

Handheld Device Delivers Low-Cost TB Results in Less Than One Hour

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, affecting an estimated 10 million people annually. In 2021, about 4.2 million TB cases went undiagnosed or unreported, mainly due to... Read more

Image: The AI-based method can more accurately detect antibiotic resistance in deadly bacteria such as tuberculosis and staph (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

New AI-Based Method Improves Diagnosis of Drug-Resistant Infections

Drug-resistant infections, particularly those caused by deadly bacteria like tuberculosis and staphylococcus, are rapidly emerging as a global health emergency. These infections are more difficult to treat,... Read more

Breakthrough Diagnostic Technology Identifies Bacterial Infections with Almost 100% Accuracy within Three Hours

Rapid and precise identification of pathogenic microbes in patient samples is essential for the effective treatment of acute infectious diseases, such as sepsis. The fluorescence in situ hybridization... Read more

Pathology

view channel

Image: A typical histopathologic slide image of kidney cancer tissue (left) has significant intra-slide heterogeneity (Photo courtesy of UT Southwestern Medical Center)

AI-Based Model Predicts Kidney Cancer Therapy Response

Each year, nearly 435,000 individuals are diagnosed with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), making it the most prevalent subtype of kidney cancer. When the disease spreads, anti-angiogenic therapies... Read more

Image: The ready-to-use DUB enzyme assay kits accelerate routine DUB activity assays without compromising data quality (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Sensitive and Specific DUB Enzyme Assay Kits Require Minimal Setup Without Substrate Preparation

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two important physiological processes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, responsible for protein degradation in cells. Deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes contain around... Read more

Image: The AI model has over 90% accuracy in thyroid cancer diagnosis and also reduces consultation preparation time (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

World’s First AI Model for Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis Achieves Over 90% Accuracy

Thyroid cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, and its precise management typically relies on two primary systems: (1) the 8th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) or ... Read more

Breakthrough Diagnostic Approach to Significantly Improve TB Detection

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, with 10.8 million new cases and 1.25 million deaths reported in 2023. Early detection through effective screening is crucial in identifying... Read more

Technology

view channel

Light Signature Algorithm to Enable Faster and More Precise Medical Diagnoses

Every material or molecule interacts with light in a unique way, creating a distinct pattern, much like a fingerprint. Optical spectroscopy, which involves shining a laser on a material and observing how... Read more

Image: The HIV-1 self-testing chip will be capable of selectively detecting HIV in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Disposable Microchip Technology Could Selectively Detect HIV in Whole Blood Samples

As of the end of 2023, approximately 40 million people globally were living with HIV, and around 630,000 individuals died from AIDS-related illnesses that same year. Despite a substantial decline in deaths... Read more

Image: Schematic illustration of the chip (Photo courtesy of Biosensors and Bioelectronics, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2025.117401)

Pain-On-A-Chip Microfluidic Device Determines Types of Chronic Pain from Blood Samples

Chronic pain is a widespread condition that remains difficult to manage, and existing clinical methods for its treatment rely largely on self-reporting, which can be subjective and especially problematic... Read more

Image: Pictorial representation of the working principle of a functionalized Carbon Dots CDs and EB based Func sensor (Photo courtesy of Toppari/University of Jyväskylä)

Innovative, Label-Free Ratiometric Fluorosensor Enables More Sensitive Viral RNA Detection

Viruses present a major global health risk, as demonstrated by recent pandemics, making early detection and identification essential for preventing new outbreaks. While traditional detection methods are... Read more