ITC Judge Issues Mixed Decision in ResMed (RMD) Case

- BMC Designs Around Contested Patents

BEIJING, Aug. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- BMC Medical Corp. ("BMC"), leading players in the manufacture and sale of sleep apnea products, announced that an ITC Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") issued an initial decision in the ResMed action in the ITC. BMC successfully invalidated one of ResMed's patents covering masks, and dismissed three out of four claims of ResMed's patent covering the humidifier on the CPAP machines. BMC is preparing to petition the Commission to invalidate the remaining claim to clear BMC's CPAP for future importation. The decision, even if upheld, will have no impact on the newest generations of CPAP products developed by BMC.

BMC was prepared for either outcome at the Commission. While the ALJ's decision is subject to review and the ITC is not scheduled to issue a final decision until December, engineers have already redesigned products to avoid the patents. BMC will immediately move the redesigns into production to ensure that there are no commercial disruptions to supply and continue to bring unparalleled value to the sleep therapy product space.

"The ITC's judge's decision is only a preliminary ruling, and we remain confident in a successful appeal to the full Commission," said BMC's General Manager, James Xu. "In addition, BMC's designs are constantly evolving, and in order to ensure continued supply to our customers, we have already implemented new designs that do not pose any infringement issues with ResMed's patents, several of which have already been admitted by ResMed not to infringe. Any orders issued by the ITC would be limited in scope and would have no impact on our latest generations of CPAP products. We are committed to our goal of bringing superior products and technology to the U.S., while at the same time helping to lower the costs of healthcare and increase DME profitability."