11th May 2005 07:01
Smith & Nephew Plc11 May 2005 Smith & Nephew Endoscopy - Injunction on Bi-polar Sales Lifted 11 May 2005 The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit announced itsdecision following Smith & Nephew's appeal of a District Court judgement. TheAppeals Court has lifted the injunction which prohibited Smith & Nephew frommanufacturing or selling bipolar radio frequency products in the United States. The Court of Appeals has also found that one out of three of ArthroCare'spatents in this case is invalid. Separately, in recent re-examinationproceedings, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected claimsof the other two US patents asserted against Smith & Nephew by ArthroCare. We are encouraged by these decisions of the Court and the USPTO. We lookforward to presenting our case before the Delaware District Court. Enquiries Investors / MediaLiz Hewitt Tel: +44 (0) 20 7960 2256Smith & Nephew Group Director Corporate Affairs MediaJoe MetzgerDirector, Corporate Communications, Endoscopy Tel: +1 978 749 1330 Financial DynamicsDeborah Scott / David Yates - London Tel: +44 (0) 20 7831 3113Jonathan Birt - New York Tel: +1 212 850 5634 About us Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business, specialising inOrthopaedics, Endoscopy and Advanced Wound Management products. Smith & Nephewis a global leader in arthroscopy and advanced wound management and is one ofthe fastest growing global orthopaedics companies. Smith & Nephew is dedicated to helping improve people's lives. The companyprides itself on the strength of its relationships with its surgeons andprofessional healthcare customers, with whom its name is synonymous with highstandards of performance, innovation and trust. The company has over 8,000employees and operates in 33 countries around the world generating annual salesof £1.25 billion. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within themeaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Inparticular, statements regarding planned growth in our business and in ouroperating margins discussed under "Outlook" are forward-looking statements asare discussions of our product pipeline. These statements, as well as thephrases "aim", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "well-placed", "believe","estimate", "expect", "target", "consider" and similar expressions, aregenerally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-lookingstatements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other importantfactors (including, but not limited to, the outcome of litigation and regulatoryapprovals) that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements ofSmith & Nephew, or industry results, to differ materially from any futureresults, performance or achievements expressed or implied by suchforward-looking statements. Please refer to the documents that Smith & Nephewhas filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S.Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith & Nephew's mostrecent annual report on Form 20F, for a discussion of certain of these factors. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on informationavailable to Smith & Nephew as of the date hereof. All written or oralforward-looking statements attributable to Smith & Nephew or any person actingon behalf of Smith & Nephew are expressly qualified in their entirety by theforegoing. Smith & Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or reviseany forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Smith &Nephew's expectation with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions orcircumstances on which any such statement is based. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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