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August 12, 2004

INCREDIBLE EDIBLE EGGS: THEY'RE NOT JUST FOR BREAKFAST?

OK - I smashed together a couple of slogans in that title, work with me on this...

File this in the interesting chicken egg technology in an IP/patent lawsuit category -- which is a really small category.

From LocalTechWire.com, Embrex, Inc. (the "In Ovo Company(R)" ) filed suit against New Jersey firm AviTech in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina (04-CV-00693), alleging AviTech “infringed” on its in-ovo (in egg) injection system claimed in U.S. Patent No. 5,136,979. 

The '979 patent claims:

1. An injection apparatus that is particularly suitable for accurate and precise injection of eggs to the same depth and location when the eggs are of varying sizes and may be presented to the injection apparatus in somewhat different orientations, said injection apparatus comprising:

a generally horizontally oriented tooling plate with an opening therethrough;

an injector resting generally vertically in said opening in said tooling plate with a lower portion of said injector depending downwardly below said tooling plate and an upper portion of said injector resting at or above said tooling plate; and

means for raising and lowering said tooling plate and said injector therewith so that when said plate is lowered and said lower portion of said resting injector contacts an object such as an egg to be injected, said resting injector stops while said tooling plate proceeds downwardly until said injector disengages from said tooling plate and is free to move in a translational direction independent of said tooling plate, and so that when said tooling plate is raised it reengages said injector and carries it upwardly and away from the object being injected.

According Embrex's press release:

"Invention is a critical component of our business strategy, and we are proud of the success we've had in patenting what we have discovered, designed and commercialized," said Randall Marcuson, president and chief executive officer of Embrex, in a statement. "As The In Ovo Company(R), we will not allow others to infringe upon our patents. As we've done in the past, we will defend our intellectual property portfolio against any infringement so that we may protect our investment and that of our shareholders."

According to the USPTO website, Embrex has 38 issued patents in the area which is an impressive technology/IP portfolio. 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 02:32 PM.
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