Dickstein Shapiro LLP is pleased to announce that a jury in the U.S. District Court in Delaware found in favor of firm clients Swisslog Italia S.p.A. and Translogic Corp., part of the Swisslog Group, a global provider of logistic solutions for the movement of materials, in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by McKesson Automation Inc., part of healthcare giant McKesson Corporation. The jury found unanimously that Swisslog’s PillPick® automated pharmacy system did not infringe McKesson’s patents.

 

The technologies at issue were computer-controlled robotic systems that automate the packaging and dispensing of drugs in hospital pharmacies.  Swisslog’s state-of-the art system, which relies on sophisticated, computer-controlled robots to package and select drugs to fill patient prescriptions, was found not to infringe McKesson’s patents which date back to the early 1990s. The jury deliberated for two days after a trial which lasted more than a week.

 

“This decision is not only a significant and hard-fought win for Swisslog, but it ensures that advances in pharmacy automation and patient safety can move forward unimpeded by questionable claims of patent infringement,” said Dickstein Shapiro lead trial counsel Alfred Fabricant. “We are delighted that the jury cleared the way for a newer and better pharmacy automation system to grow in the United States.”

 

The Dickstein Shapiro trial team was led by Intellectual Property Practice litigators Alfred Fabricant, Lawrence Drucker, and Bryan DeMatteo, together with Richard LaCava, Peter Lambrianakos, Paul Maier, and James Ryerson.