Hologic, university settle lawsuit alleging radiology vendor infringed on mammography patent
Hologic and the University of South Florida Research Foundation have settled a years-long lawsuit alleging the radiology vendor infringed on a mammography-related patent.
The case dates to March 2020, when the foundation filed suit against the Marlborough, Massachusetts-based company alleging it violated U.S. patent No. 6,630,937. The document describes a workstation-user interface to aid physicians in evaluating digital mammograms, according to the original complaint.
Judge Jennifer L. Hall on Thursday approved a stipulation of dismissal both sides filed in U.S. District Court earlier this week, ending the case, Bloomberg Law reported.
“Plaintiffs University of South Florida Research Foundation Inc. and University of South Florida Board of Trustees and Defendant Hologic, Inc., through their undersigned counsel, hereby stipulate to dismiss this action with prejudice, including without limitation those claims asserted by USFRF and counterclaims asserted by Hologic,” the order states.
Court documents do not specify whether a monetary settlement was reached out of court. Both parties did not immediately respond to a Radiology Business request for comment Thursday.
The foundation’s original complaint focused on Hologic’s SecurView DX Mammography System, which offers customizable workflows and tools for manipulating and evaluating 2D and 3D mammography exams.
In the mid-1990s, USF researchers purportedly created a similar solution for quicker and more accurate breast cancer diagnosis via digital, rather than analog, images. They filed a patent application in February 2002 for their device, dubbed “Workstation Interface for Use in Digital Mammography and Associated Methods.”
Hologic later countersued the USF Foundation labeling the original complaint as “meritless.”
Read more about the outcome from Bloomberg at the link below (subscription required) and coverage of the original filing from the Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.