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Copan Sues Puritan, Alleging Infringement of Swab Technology Patents

NEW YORK (360Dx) – Copan Italia and its US subsidiary Copan Diagnostics said today that they have filed a lawsuit against Puritan Medical Products and Puritan Diagnostics alleging that Puritan has infringed patents covering Copan's core flocked swab technology, and has made false and misleading public statements concerning the flocked swabs and Copan's intellectual property.

Copan filed the lawsuit on Friday in the US District Court for the District of Maine for infringement of US Patent No. 8,114,027; US Patent No. 8,317,728; US Patent No. 8,979,784; US Patent No. 9,011,358; and US Patent No. 9,173,779.

According to Copan's website, its flocked swabs use capillary action between fiber strands to facilitate hydraulic uptake of liquid samples. The swabs are compatible with multiple applications and platforms, such as testing with rapid antigen assays, enzyme-linked immunoassays, molecular-based assays, direct fluorescent antibody assays, cytology, forensics, bacteriology, and virology culture.

Lorenzo Fumagalli, Copan's general counsel, said in a statement that the firm's founder Daniele Triva invented flocked swabs for collecting biological specimens in 2003. "Since then, Copan has invested an enormous amount of time and resources to develop, manufacture, and patent these innovative solutions, as well as to convince an initially skeptical market to adopt them," Fumagalli said.

On deadline Puritan did not respond to a request seeking comment.