Court denies preliminary injunction against Hologic, Conceptus to continue patent infringement suit

Conceptus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTS), developer of the Essure^® procedure, the first proven non-incisional permanent birth control method available, today announced that the United Stated District Court, Northern District of California has denied Conceptus’ motion for a preliminary injunction prohibiting Hologic, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOLX) from importing, using, selling or offering to sell the Adiana system in the United States.

In May 2009 Conceptus filed suit against Hologic, asserting that the Adiana permanent contraception system infringes several U.S. patents owned by Conceptus. The Adiana permanent contraception system was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July 2009 and Conceptus filed its motion for a preliminary injunction shortly thereafter.

“While we realized from the start that preliminary injunctions are rarely granted, we nonetheless are disappointed with the court’s decision on this matter. We continue to believe that at trial we will win on the merits of our case and prove conclusively that the Adiana system infringes our patents,” commented Mark Sieczkarek, president and chief executive officer of Conceptus. “Our patents are the foundation of our work in developing one of the most effective forms of permanent contraception ever available and we intend to vigorously enforce all of our intellectual property rights against infringement or misappropriation.”