Guilford swab-maker wins patent battle in Sweden
File Photo / Fred Field
Puritan Medical Products, whose Guilford swab-manufacturing facility is shown here, has defeated a patent lawsuit filed in Sweden by an international competitor.
Puritan Medical Products Co., the Guilford manufacturer of medical swabs used in COVID-19 testing, has defeated a patent lawsuit filed in Sweden by its chief competitor.
Copan Group brought the suit last year against a Puritan distributor, Svenska LABFAB, in the Swedish Patent and Market Court. The suit claimed Puritan’s PurFlock Ultra swabs violated a European patent held by Copan on a similar product.
The court on June 5 unanimously found that Puritan and the distributor did not infringe on Copan’s patent rights, according to a news release Monday. Copan is required to reimburse legal fees, but has several days to appeal the verdict.
Puritan said the court’s decision was based on “multiple, redundant reasons,” and addressed only the question of infringement, not whether the suit was valid.
The legal victory for the Maine company comes after three courts in Germany found patent lawsuits there invalid. Meanwhile, a similar lawsuit filed in Maine by Copan has been paused following the exchange of expert witness reports, the release said.
Copan and Puritan are regarded as the world’s two primary manufacturers of the specialized long-handle swabs used in testing for the novel coronavirus.
Copan Group manufactures and distributes a wide range of laboratory testing products. (“Copan” is an acronym for “collection and preservation for analysis.”) The privately held company was founded in 1979 and is based in Mantua, Italy.
With a new manufacturing facility now being outfitted in Pittsfield, Puritan is planning to ramp up production of COVID-19 swabs to nearly 40 million a month in response to the health crisis. President Donald Trump touted the company's work during a June 5 visit to the Guilford plant.
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