LAKE FOREST, Calif., April 11, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- CooperVision, Inc., the contact lens unit of The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) announced today that on April 10, 2006 it filed suit in federal district court in Marshall, Texas, alleging that CIBA Vision's O2Optix(tm) contact lenses infringe United States Patent Nos. 6,431,706, 6,923,538, 6,467,903, 6,857,740 and 6,971,746, all of which are assigned to CooperVision. CooperVision is asserting two families of patents. One family relates to innovations that control the edge characteristics of certain types of contact lenses. The second family of patents relates to novel designs for certain types of contact lenses, including certain types of toric lenses used to treat astigmatism, the blurring of vision due to an irregularity in the shape of the cornea.
CooperVision also filed suit, on April 11, 2006, against CIBA Vision in federal district court in Wilmington, Delaware. CooperVision seeks a judicial declaration that its Biofinity(tm) line of silicone hydrogel contact lenses does not infringe certain CIBA Vision patents, United States Patent Nos. 5,760,100, 5,776,999, 5,789,461, 5,849,811, 5,965,631 and 6,951,894. The CIBA Vision patents generally relate to a type of silicone hydrogel lens.
CooperVision manufactures and markets contact lenses and ophthalmic surgery products. Headquartered in Lake Forest, Calif., it manufactures in Albuquerque, N.M., Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, Norfolk, Va., Rochester, N.Y., Adelaide, Australia, Hamble and Hampshire England, Ligny-en-Barrios, France, Madrid, Spain and Toronto. Its Web address is www.coopervision.com.