Carl Zeiss Meditec Seeks Protection of Proprietary Information

DUBLIN, CA--(Marketwire - June 18, 2007) - Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc. (CZMI) has announced the filing of a lawsuit on June 7, 2007 in the state of Massachusetts against a former senior CZMI sales executive who is now employed by CZMI's direct competitor, Optovue, Inc. ("Optovue"). The suit alleges that the executive, while employed by CZMI, transmitted confidential and proprietary CZMI information to Optovue, and that he engaged in a variety of prohibited actions during and subsequent to his CZMI employment. The lawsuit requests that he be prohibited from engaging in such conduct, be ordered to return and make no use of CZMI's confidential and proprietary information and seeks appropriate remedies and awards.

In apparent response to CZMI's filing, Optovue commenced litigation against CZMI on June 11, 2007 in the federal court in the Northern District of California. This filing alleges, among other things, that there is a controversy between Optovue and CZMI regarding whether Optovue engaged in certain acts of unfair competition, and claims that Optovue did not engage in such conduct. CZMI intends to respond to that litigation by vigorously defending against Optovue's claims, and by alleging any appropriate affirmative claims for unfair competition and otherwise.

While CZMI welcomes fair competition in the marketplace, CZMI will vigorously protect its confidential, proprietary and trade secret information, and will take all necessary and appropriate action to enforce and defend its rights.

"We take the issues CZM has raised in the Massachusetts case as particularly troublesome since it involves a former senior employee who occupied a position of trust at CZMI, and who had access to highly sensitive and proprietary information," said Jim Taylor, president and CEO of CZMI. "We see Optovue's action to file its own lawsuit as an indication of the seriousness of CZMI's claims, and welcome, within the structured process of the legal system, the opportunity to fully pursue the facts regarding these matters."

About Carl Zeiss Meditec

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG (ISIN: DE 0005313704) is one of the world's leading medical technology companies. This market position is based on over 160 years of experience in optical innovation. The company has two primary areas of activity. In the field of ophthalmology, Carl Zeiss Meditec offers integrated solutions for treating the four main eye diseases: vision defects (refraction), cataracts, glaucoma and retinal disorders. Product innovations range from basic systems such as slit lamps and fundus cameras to standard setting diagnostic systems such as the Humphrey® Field Analyzer, the Stratus OCT™ and the IOLMaster®, through to the surgical microscopes and innovative treatment systems in refractive laser surgery.

In the field of neuro and ENT surgery, Carl Zeiss Meditec is the world's leading provider of surgical microscopes and microsurgical visualization solutions for a very broad range of applications, such as tumour and vascular surgery in the head region and/or spinal surgery. The most recent example of our innovative performance in the area of microsurgery is the OPMI Pentero® visualization system, which allows efficient and ergonomic patient treatment.

Carl Zeiss Meditec's medical technology portfolio is rounded off by visualization systems for doctors in private practice and promising future technologies such as intraoperative radiation therapy, which allows the targeted treatment of breast cancer and brain cancer directly during surgery.

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG is based in Jena, Germany, with subsidiaries in Germany (Carl Zeiss Meditec Surgical GmbH and Carl Zeiss Meditec Vertriebsgesellschaf mbH), the USA (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., Dublin, California), in Japan (Carl Zeiss Meditec Co., Ltd., Tokyo), Spain (Carl Zeiss Meditec Iberia S.A., Madrid) and France (Ioltech SAS, La Rochelle, and Carl Zeiss Meditec France SAS, Le Pecq).

Thirty-five percent of the Carl Zeiss Meditec shares are in free float. The remaining 65 percent are held by Carl Zeiss, one of the world's leading international groups engaged in the optical and opto-electronics industry. For more information, visit www.meditec.zeiss.com/usa.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Jackie Ferreira 925.557.4488