Pump Delay Spurs Lawsuit Between Tech Competitors

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Pump Delay Spurs Lawsuit Between Tech Competitors

LAW

by Amanda Bronstad

Alfred Mann had to have seen this coming.

Mann is co-chief executive and chairman of Valencia-based Advanced Bionics Inc., which has sued Medical Research Group for reneging on a contract to develop a neural pump. He founded both companies and last year sold Medical Research to Medtronic Inc., which competes with Advanced Bionics.

In a lawsuit filed Feb. 1 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Advanced Bionics claims it made an agreement with MRG in March 2000 to market and distribute a neural pump that treats pain by injecting medication through the spinal cord. In August 2001, Medtronic acquired MRG.

Medtronic, which makes a similar neural pump, is the largest competitor to Advanced Bionics, said Jeff Greiner, president and co-chief executive of Advanced Bionics.

In December, MRG said its neural pump would not be ready until 2006 at the earliest, instead of the original date of August 2002, Greiner said.

If it were to develop the pump on its own, Advanced Bionics would have to incur more than $30 million in development costs, the suit said. The company has also paid MRG $1.5 million in up-front development costs and 200,000 shares of Advanced Bionics stock.

No comment from Medtronic.

Brobeck Breaks

Brobeck Phleger & Harrison LLP made the long-anticipated decision to lay off attorneys and staff on Feb. 1. The San Francisco-based firm laid off 50 associates and 85 staff members firm wide, including three attorneys and 15 staff members in Los Angeles.

“We were hoping there would be an economic turn-around, but it just did not come,” said Dick Odom, the Los Angeles partner who was named chairman late last year.

Most of the layoffs were in the firm’s business and technology group. In L.A., a large percentage of attorneys are in the complex litigation group, Odom said.

Playboy Win

Playboy Enterprises Inc. won a partial victory in a high-profile trademark case heard in the 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.

U.S. Judge Thomas Nelson ruled on Feb. 1 that former Playboy Playmate of the Year Terri Welles infringed on Playboy Enterprise’s “PMOY” trademark (which stands for “Playmate of the Year”) when she sprinkled the acronym over her personal Web site.

The ruling reversed part of a decision in U.S. District Court that threw out Playboy’s trademark lawsuit.. Anthony Glassman, partner at Beverly Hills’ Glassman Browning & Saltsman Inc., said the ruling reaffirms Playboy’s control over its own awards.

The 9th Circuit judge agreed with the lower court in allowing Welles to use Playboy’s other trademarks “Playmate” and “Playboy” and the phrase “Playmate of the Year 1981.”

“The court held that a company can’t censor a prior employee’s resume,” said Jeff Riffer, a partner at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP representing Welles.

Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 225, or at

[email protected].