Zoll sues Alsius over temperature-management patents

Zoll Medical, a manufacturer of resuscitation devices and software products, has filed a lawsuit in the Central District Court of California against Alsius and its subsidiary Alsius Medical, citing patent infringement over two temperature-management patents.

The Irvine, Calif.-based Alsius, a developer of intravascular temperature-management therapies, said that it is prepared to "respond aggressively" to the patent lawsuit brought by Zoll Circulation, a subsidiary of Zoll Medical.

The firm said it was sued by Zoll based on "two temperature-management patents Zoll purchased from a defunct competitor of Alsius. Alsius believes that its patents do not infringe on the Zoll patents, and that Zoll's temperature-management patents are invalid."

Alsius portends to retain a patent position in "intravascular cooling that, among other things, precludes any competitor from marketing an intravascular cooling catheter for therapeutic hypothermia in patients who have had cardiac arrest or heart attack."

The Chelmsford, Mass.-based Zoll does not currently market any products of the patent technology in question.

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