ResMed wins sales ban against APEX in Germany

Fresh from securing a court ruling upholding the ban on some APEX Medical devices in the US, ResMed (ASX:RMD) has won an injunction against the company in Germany.

A German court has issued a permanent injunction against Taiwanese medical manufacturer APEX prohibiting sales of headgear found to infringe on ResMed patents.

The ruling covers the APEX WiZARD 210 and 220 continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) sleep breathing therapy face masks, and applies throughout Germany. APEX will be able to appeal the judgment.

The same court issued temporary injunctions against APEX and mainland Chinese manufacturer BMC Medical in November last year. The court has now rejected APEX’s request to stay the temporary injunction and its challenge to the validity of ResMed’s patents.

As part of the judgement, APEX will also need to forfeit its inventory of the infringing products and pay damages to ResMed.

ResMed has also filed separate lawsuits seeking damages and permanent injunctions on two more CPAP devices.

The verdict comes a week after ResMed announced that the US International Trade Commission has upheld an import ban against one ResMed CPAP mask. APEX had redesigned the mask in an attempt to work around ResMed patents, but the ITC held that the new design still infringed.

ResMed (ASX:RMD) shares were trading 0.37% higher at $5.44 as of around 1 pm on Tuesday.