PreMD loses two patents due to law firm's failure to pay maintenance fees

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, Dec. 23 - PreMD Inc. said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will not reinstate two U.S. patents for the company's skin tissue cholesterol technology. The company is evaluating possible avenues of appeal.

The two patents had been listed as abandoned by the patent office for failure to pay maintenance fees, which occurred when the files were transferred between U.S. and Canadian patent agents.

PreMD said it is seeking legal action against the law firm that was responsible for managing its patent portfolio when the maintenance fees should have been paid.

The patent office found that the patents lapsed as a result of the law firm's failure to use its established docketing procedures for payment of the maintenance fees, the company said.

"We strongly believe in the merits of our petition and are obviously disappointed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision," president and chief executive officer Brent Norton said in a company news release.

"That being said, it is important to remember that in the United States, PreMD has an additional two patents in force covering other aspects of the technology, as well as two patents pending, and that the two patents in question remain in force in all other jurisdictions.

"Our skin sterol test system is the product of years of proprietary development and expertise that is exclusive to PreMD, and for those reasons, we do not expect that Prevu Skin Sterol Test could be duplicated."

The company's marketing partner, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, is continuing to advance its commercialization strategy for the Prevu Skin Sterol Test, PreMD said.

PreMD (formerly IMI International Medical Innovations Inc.) is a biotechnology company based in Toronto that develops non-invasive tests for the early detection of life-threatening diseases.

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