Siemens wins court battle with ISO

Chalk up another legal victoryfor vendors over their third-party servicing competition. SiemensMedical Systems has become the latest vendor to win a court battlewith an independent service organization after a federal judgedismissed all of the claims filed against it by Diagnostic X-RayServices (DXS), an ISO based in Flint, MI.

DXS filed suit against Siemens in the U.S. District Court ofEastern Michigan several years ago, alleging that the German vendorviolated antitrust laws by allegedly interfering with DXS's maintenanceand repair service of x-ray equipment in Michigan. DXS accusedSiemens of refusing to sell parts and of tying the sale of partsto Siemens maintenance contracts. DXS also alleged that Siemensrefused to warrant parts installed by ISOs.

Siemens asked for dismissal of the lawsuit in 1992 (SCAN 7/1/92).The judge hearing the case recently agreed, dismissing all ofthe ISO's claims and upholding all of Siemens' standard businesspractices, according to the company.

Siemens recently won a similar case in Georgia involving serviceof lithotripsy systems by Servicetrends, a Georgia-based ISO.Servicetrends charged Siemens with trying to implement unfairor illegal practices regarding service and parts for Siemens'Lithostar system, but the ISO's claims were dismissed by a federaljudge.

In addition, earlier this year Siemens resolved copyright infringementlitigation with National Medical Diagnostics, an ISO based inBeachwood, OH. Siemens alleged that National MD employees usedSiemens software to service the vendor's equipment at severalOhio hospitals.

To resolve the litigation, Siemens and National MD reacheda consent decree that prohibits the ISO from unlicensed use ofSiemens software. National MD also agreed to pay Siemens an undisclosedsum and to purchase diagnostic materials license agreements forfuture use.

Picker International also won a court battle with an ISO thisyear. A U.S. District Court judge in Massachusetts granted Picker'smotion for summary judgment, setting aside antitrust claims madeby Imaging Equipment Services (IES). IES has stated that it intendsto appeal the ruling (SCAN 6/15/94).