Aerocrine AB (STO:AEROB) today announced that it has acquired all business assets and intellectual property assets from the bankruptcy estate of Apieron Inc. As a result, Apieron's litigation against Aerocrine in the U.S. and Germany will be terminated and dismissed. Aerocrine's patent infringement claims in the U.S. against Apieron's estate will not be dismissed, however.
Following Apieron's launch in the U.S. of its Insight™ exhaled NO device in 2008, Aerocrine and Apieron have been engaged in patent litigation in the U.S and Germany. On March 30th 2010, referring to legal setbacks and lack of financing, Apieron filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court appointed a trustee to administer the liquidation of Apieron's assets. In an auction held on May 12th in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, Aerocrine acquired the rights to all of Apieron's business assets, including its portfolio of patents and trademarks.
Due to small sales volumes and a manual process for the manufacturing of the Insight exhaled NO device, Aerocrine will not invest to resume supply of the Insight product that was discontinued by Apieron following its bankruptcy filing.