As previously announced, RaySearch Laboratories AB (publ.) (STO:RAYB) has been contacted by a US company named Prowess, which claims that RaySearch has infringed on a US patent in respect of which Prowess has a license.
The patent concerns direct optimization of machine parameters in radiation treatment planning and was issued in 2007 by the US patent authority USPTO. Prowess has said that it holds an exclusive license to this patent which is owned by the University of Maryland. RaySearch has been involved in discussions with Prowess where RaySearch has stated its position that there is no infringement and in addition, that the patent could be invalidated since there is prior art in older publications describing the same concept.
These discussions have unfortunately been fruitless and Prowess has now filed a Complaint against RaySearch for patent infringement in a court in Baltimore, Maryland. This means that a legal process will commence that is likely to last for a long period of time. At this point it is, however, difficult to estimate how long it will last and how large RaySearch's costs will be.
"This concerns a method that we had independently developed and implemented at the Karolinska Institute already in the 90's. In addition, both we and others had published articles about the method before this patent application was filed. We do believe that we have a strong case and therefore consider our chances of winning this dispute to be good," says Johan Löf, CEO of RaySearch.