PLYMOUTH, MA, October 22, 2004 - With more than 1000 attorneys and offices in 12 cities in the U.S. and Europe, with a team of 350 skilled litigators and an intellectual property practice that includes over 100 attorneys and patent agents who hold advanced scientific and technical degrees, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP is a firm with a practice unsurpassed in depth and scope by any other major law firm both at the district and appellate levels. According to Gary Tureski, President of Harvest Technologies Corp., “Their strong presence in the Massachusetts District Court and their vast experience add to our confidence as we approach the trial date scheduled for early spring 2005.” Gary further notes, “Harvest believes the disputed Knighton patent (5,165,938) is clearly invalid based on the recent claim construction and based on the substantial prior art evidence we uncovered which will be presented at the upcoming trial in the Massachusetts District Court.”
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP will work as co-counsels with Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. and Ottenberg and Dunkless LLP to aggressively present Harvest’s position to the District Court.
“Harvest is looking forward to the upcoming trial and strongly believes that methods to prepare autologous platelet rich plasma (PRP) and the role of platelets in facilitating wound healing has been known in the art for decades” said Gary Tureski. “Technologies to process whole blood may differ and possess certain patentable components (like the automatic decanting and floating shelf technology of the SmartPReP®2 system), but the clinical utility of platelets remains in the public domain,” adds Gary Tureski.
Gary concludes “Autologous PRP prepared from a patient’s blood, whether used for transfusion, percutaneous injection or topical use belongs to the patient, not to Cytomedix, and we expect the courts to ultimately prevent Cytomedix from intimidating end users of autologous PRP in their clinical practice. Our strengthened legal team now in place and arsenal of prior art will help ensure a successful outcome for us as well as all the patients who benefit from this important wound therapy.”
For more information contact:
Harvest Technologies Corporation
40 Grissom Road
Suite 100
Plymouth, MA 02360
Tel: 508-732-7500
Fax: 508-732-0400
Email: info@harvesttech.com