PATNEWS: Visx and Summit argue over royalties; together are sued

[Gregory Aharonian]

Visx (Santa Clara, CA) has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in
Boston against its partner in a joint venture, Summit Technology, seeking
$4.5 million in royalties. Both companies offer products for sculpting
eyeballs with lasers to correct vision.

The two companies had formed a joint venture, Pillar Point Partners,
which receives $250 everytime an eye is treated with their technology using
their laser systems. Visx receives $140 of this, while Summit receives $110.
Visx also gets 6 percent of the price of each Summit machine sold. The
lawsuit is not over the $140/$110 split, but rather how Summit calculates the
price of the machines that Visx is getting 6% of. In recent months, the two
companies have been accusing each other of unfair practices, and the lawsuit
could lead to an end of their partnership.

To complicate matter, Dr. Robert Burlingame, an ophthalmologist in San
Francisco in June filed a civil lawsuit in the US District Court for Northern
District of California charging both Visx and Summit with price fixing. This
is on top of a Federal Trade Commission investigation of antitrust actions
against the two companies, and the Food and Drug Administration investigating
leaked papers between the two companies.

On top of which, the technique used by the two companies, photorefractive
keratectomy (PRK) is being challenged by a new technique, which involves
inserting a biocompatible plastic implant in the intrasomal region of the
cornea. This ring too reshapes the eye to improve vision, with two distinct
advantages over PRK and the more invasive radial keratectomy. First, the
procedure is reversible (you can remove the plastic implant), and second it
doesn't damage the eye (PRK removes an outer layer from your eyeball, and
RK requires putting slits on the the surface). KeraVision of Fremont,
California, makes the Intrasomal Corneal Ring, and they are currently
planning Phase III trials for the FDA.

Invent, patent, be regulated, sue, suffer competition. The life cycle of
the inventor.

Greg Aharonian
Internet Patent News Service
(for info on free subscription, send 'help' to pat...@world.std.com )
(for prior art search services info, send 'prior' to pat...@world.std.com )

[David Ainsburg]

Not to mention the new LaserK or LasiK surgery, somewhat similar to PRK
but much better- instead of scraping away the epithelial to get at the
cornea with the laser, the procedure uses a microkeratome to make a flap
in the epithelial, which is then held back so the laser can work.
Afterwards, the flap heals much quicker (1 day) than the PRK's procedure
(1-3 weeks). Kremer Laser Eye Centers in Pennsylvania do the procedure,
which is FDA approved for testing. How do I know this? Because Dr.
Kremer invented his own excimer laser, and I caught the news clipping
about the FDA, and since I'd already had the examination for PRK and
turned it down, I went to Kremer. I'm now 20-25 from 20-200 in the left
eye I damaged as a child, with gusts up to 20-20. There was a guy there
who was 20-400 both eyes (coke bottles), and the next morning he's
walking to the center with no glasses and a BIG smile! He came up to
20-60, which may improve a bit more. So, there's a good alternative out
there already- if you're personally interested, check them out! I think
they even have a web page :)