UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (date of earliest event reported): December 4, 2003
Commission File No. 0-11178
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UTAH MEDICAL PRODUCTS, INC.
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(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
UTAH 87-0342734
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(State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization) Identification No.)
7043 South 300 West
Midvale, Utah 84047
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Address of principal executive offices
Registrant's telephone number: (801) 566-1200
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ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS
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On December 5, 2003 the Company announced, by press release, the following:
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Affirms
Infringement Judgment and Permanent Injunction Against Tyco/ Kendall
Salt Lake City, Utah - Utah Medical Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTMD) announces that
the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld in entirety
the Federal District Court for the District of Utah formal judgment issued on
September 19, 2002 awarding UTMD approximately $23 million in damages and
accrued interest as a result of the January 2002 jury verdict that the Tyco
International/ Kendallo LTP 4000 Softrans(R) Intrauterine Pressure Catheter
(IUPC) literally infringes UTMD's United States Letters Patent No. 4,785,822 for
inventions relating to a "Disposable Intracompartmental Pressure Transducer."
UTMD markets the Intran(R) Plus IUPC which practices this patent. In addition,
the Appellate Court upheld the permanent injunction against Tyco prohibiting the
manufacturing, marketing, selling and/or otherwise distributing of the 4000
Softrans IUPC for the duration of UTMD's patent. UTMD now needs to address
additional damages for infringing product willfully sold by Tyco after the
January verdict, or willfully distributed by national hospital distributors, as
well as other medical device companies, after notification of the injunction.
UTMD's successful effort to defend its intellectual property took almost seven
years' time, requiring significant determination in the face of the required
cost and effort. A substantial part of the good news surrounding this event is
the discontinuance of that drain on the company's resources.
The judgment vindicates UTMD's market leadership and reputation as the inventor
of a transducer-tipped IUPC, which greatly enhanced the clinical value of
intrauterine pressure monitoring. With a transducer-tipped catheter, physicians
can rely on accurate measurements of contraction intensities, and amplitudes of
resting tones and peak contraction pressures, over extended time in difficult
deliveries. When augmenting or inducing labor with oxytocin, or when
amnioinfusing to replace decreased amniotic fluid volume to decrease variable
fetal heart rate decelerations, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecolgy
(ACOG) now recommends in its guidelines to physicians to closely monitor the
"powers" of labor, which are the contraction intensities and pressure
amplitudes. Previously, intrauterine pressure monitoring was used primarily in
monitoring the onset and frequency of contractions.
UTMD was ably represented by Burbidge & Mitchell, Attorneys, Salt Lake City in
this lawsuit. According to UTMD CEO Kevin Cornwell, "Given the complexity of
patent law and the much larger amount of legal resources applied by Tyco in this
case, UTMD believes significant credit is due to the diligence and legal
aptitude of its lawyers, in particular, Richard Burbidge, Stephen Mitchell and
Jefferson Gross. Thank you."
Utah Medical Products, Inc., with particular interest in healthcare for women
and their babies, develops, manufactures, assembles and markets a broad range of
disposable and reusable specialty medical devices designed for better health
outcomes for patients and their care-providers.
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SIGNATURES
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Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchanges Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
UTAH MEDICAL PRODUCTS, INC.
REGISTRANT
Date: 12/5/03 By: \s\ Kevin L. Cornwell
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Kevin L. Cornwell
CEO
Date: 12/5/03 By: \s\ Greg A. LeClaire
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Greg A. LeClaire
CFO