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McAndrews, Held & Malloy Secures A Consent Judgment And $8 Million Settlement for CSP Technologies
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Chicago, IL – Feb. 27, 2007 – McAndrews, Held & Malloy announced today that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has entered a consent judgment and dismissal with prejudice in favor of its client CSP Technologies Inc. (CSP) against Sud-Chemie Inc. (SCI). The Court found CSP’s patents to be valid, enforceable and infringed, and permanently enjoins SCI from future infringement by the accused product, or any colorable imitation of it. In addition to the consent judgment, SCI agreed to pay CSP $8 million.
SCI instigated the Declaratory Judgment lawsuit nearly four-and-a-half years ago when it alleged that 11 CSP patents involving desiccant entrained polymer containers for pharmaceutical and diagnostic packaging were invalid, unenforceable and not infringed upon by SCI.
After a bench trial relating to two of CSP’s patents, the Court ruled in August 2006, in a 108 page exhaustive opinion, that those two CSP patents are valid and that SCI infringed the two patents. Also, the Court had previously granted several of CSP’s motions to compel the production of many documents that SCI had improperly alleged were protected from discovery by the work product and attorney client privileges.
CSP’s patented desiccant entrained polymers are used inside containers to absorb moisture, thus protecting the containers’ contents. The technology is used in the packaging of a wide range of goods requiring a moisture-free environment, including foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medical diagnostics products (such as diabetic blood testing strips) and consumer products.
CSP has approximately 35 products that it is selling or bringing to the market, and it currently produces approximately 400 million items a year that utilize the patented channel technology. CSP sells significant amounts of these products to pharmaceutical giants such as Johnson and Johnson; Abbott Laboratories; Bayer; Hoffman-La Roche Inc.; and Becton, Dickinson and Company.
“By originally seeking to invalidate 11 CSP patents, SCI tried to take down CSP’s entire patent portfolio when it began this case,” said George P. McAndrews, founding partner at McAndrews, Held & Malloy. “This is a tremendous victory for our client since they have invested a significant amount of time and resources in development of this technology and its marketing to the medical packaging industry.”
CSP is a world leader in designing and manufacturing custom plastic products and systems for the food, drug, electronic, health care and packaging industries. SCI is a subsidiary of Sud-Chemie AG, a diversified specialty chemical and industrial minerals company headquartered in Munich, Germany, which produces catalysts, adsorbents and additives for industrial and consumer markets.
McAndrews, Held & Malloy attorneys George P. McAndrews, James R. Nuttall, John L. Abramic, Michael J. Fitzpatrick and Heather A. Bjella represented CSP.
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