Fonar adds Toshiba to listof MRI patent defendants

Toshiba is also being sued by Mayo Foundation

Fonar continues to cast a wide net in its drive to protect patentsthat it claims are being violated by other MRI vendors. The Melville,NY, company this month filed litigation against Toshiba, chargingthat company with violating four of its patents.

Toshiba, of Tustin, CA, joins a growing list of MRI vendorsdefending themselves against Fonar's legal forays. Fonar lastyear won a $62 million award against GE Medical Systems that ison appeal (SCAN 6/7/95). Fonar has also filed lawsuits againstSiemens Medical Systems of Iselin, NJ, and Philips Medical SystemsNorth America of Shelton, CT (SCAN 7/6/95). Fonar has settledlitigation with Hitachi Medical Systems America of Twinsburg,OH.

Fonar is accusing Toshiba of violating two of the patents involvedin its litigation against GE: the original cancer detection patentreceived by Fonar founder Dr. Raymond Damadian, and the multiple-angleoblique (MAO) patent. It is also suing Toshiba on two patentsrelated to open MRI.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern NewYork in Hauppauge, NY, the jurisdiction where Fonar won its caseagainst GE. The case has been assigned to Judge Leonard Wexler,who also presided over the GE case, according to Fonar attorneyRonald Schutz of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi of Minneapolis.

The lawsuit is the second MRI patent infringement case filedagainst Toshiba in the last six months. Late last year, the MayoFoundation for Medical Education and Research of Rochester, MN,filed a lawsuit in a Milwaukee federal court charging Toshibawith violating its patent for clearing up images in soft tissueby suppressing blood-flow artifacts (SCAN 2/14/96). That litigationis still in early stages.

A Toshiba spokesperson declined to comment on the Fonar lawsuit,as the company has not yet been served with the complaint.