Comvita to appeal UK patent ruling, faces £400,000 costs

Comvita to appeal UK patent ruling, faces £400,000 costs

By Jason Krupp

Feb. 7 (BusinessDesk) - Comvita Ltd., the medical honey products developer, said it will appeal a decision by a U.K. patents court which ruled against the company in an infringement case and awarded the defendant £400,000 (NZ$835,000) in costs.

Last year the company was engaged in an intellectual property infringement battle against Brightwake, which markets a honey-based wound care product in the U.K. which Comvita says violates well-established patents granted in the U.K., U.S., New Zealand and Australia.

In December the Patents Country Court in London ruled against Comvita and declared its wounds treatment patent invalid.

"Based upon receiving comprehensive legal advice Comvita will apply to the U.K. Court of Appeal," the company said in a statement. "This advice confirms Comvita’s view that the original court ruling is flawed on several grounds to Comvita’s disadvantage and therefore has decided to appeal the decision."

A stay on the revocation of Comvita’s patent has been granted until a decision is made on the appeal.

The company said the costs of the appeal will probably be £100,000 or less, and come on top of the costs incurred by Brightwake.

The first cost-related installment of £287,000 will be paid by the end of February, with the company taking provision of the full amount in this financial year.

Separately, Comvita announced that its global licensee for Medihoney specialist wound care products, Derma Sciences Inc., had reported positive results of a phase II clinical trial for its new wound healing drug, DSC127.

The trial results show that DSC127 is up to three times more likely to result in healing of diabetic foot ulcers than conventional treatments. Comvita has a 13% ownership Derma Sciences, a Nasdaq public listed company.

Comvita shares were unchanged today at $1.52, a three week high.

(BusinessDesk)

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