In Brief: Pillar Point Partners
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Pillar Point Partners: Files patent infringement suit Sept. 9 in the U.S. District Court for Arizona against Phoenix-based Barney Dulaney Eye Center. The suit charges Dulaney with "performing laser eye surgery without a license" from the Pillar Point partnership formed in 1992 to license Summit Technology's and Visx' excimer laser technology, according to a Sept. 10 Pillar Point press release. Pillar Point files a separate suit Sept. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Washington, D.C.-based consultant William Appler for allegedly "aiding and encouraging others, including eye clinics and medical personnel, to infringe the patented technology" of the partnership. Appler has represented ophthalmic surgeons that use custom-built and reimported excimer lasers for photorefractive keratectomy and laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), advising the physicians on FDA policy toward the unapproved lasers...