US medical devices company Palomar Medical Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:PMTI) claims that the laser depilatory device made by Israel’s Alma Lasers Ltd. illegally uses Palomar’s intellectual property. Palomar filed suit against Alma Lasers in a Boston court for infringing two patents Palomar licenses from Massachusetts General Hospital.
Alma Lasers president and CEO Ziv Karni was unavailable for comment because he is traveling to Japan.
Palomar has a market cap of $766 million. The company specializes in laser therapies for aesthetic uses, and is a direct competitor of Alma Lasers, as well as Syneron Medical Ltd. (Nasdaq: ELOS), Lumenis Ltd. (Pink Sheets:LUME.PK) and Radiancy Inc.. Palomar is also suing another laser depilatory treatment maker Cutera Inc. (Nasdaq:CUTR) for royalties on sales on Alma Lasers’ products. Even if Palomar wins this case, it will not be able to stop Alma Lasers, but will only be able to hurt its profitability, which is considered fairly high.
Alma Lasers made headlines four months ago when the controlling interest in the company was sold to TA Associates Ltd. for $90 million. A few weeks ago, “Globes’ reported that Alma Lasers planned to go public on Nasdaq during 2007 at an estimated company value of $300 million. The company denied the report.
Sources inform ''Globes'' that the company was seeking a US CEO to replace Karni, who founded the company. Karni said that the company had appointed a CEO for its US subsidiary, not to replace him.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 16, 2006
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006