Portland denies patent infringement

Portland Orthopaedics [ASX: PLD] yesterday denied it had infringed patents held by Advanced Surgical Manufacture and Design [ASX: AMT] in designing its new hip replacement product.

Portland said it had spent considerable time and resources at the US Patent Office confirming that ASDM patents had not been infringed in developing Portland's new Equator acetabular cup system.

The company also maintains that the Equator is covered by a provisional patent application dating back to early 2001.

Portland is alleged to have infringed ADSM's Hip Cup patent when designing its Equator Cup orthopedic.

ASDM lodged a patent infringement suit in California in June 2008. The St Leonards company said the patent infringement was not material to its current operations but felt the technology was valuable enough to defend.

Portland said it believed ASDM's action was without substance or merit.