International Trade Commission to investigate ResMed copycats

Chinese and Taiwanese companies accused of copying several key inventions.

Justin Loiseau

Justin Loiseau hails from the great united state of North Carolina, where he started his first business at the ripe age of five: melting crayons into candles. With the infamous Crayola Crash of 1994, Justin moved on to study economics and environmental studies as a Morehead-Cain Scholar at the University of North Carolina. He has worked in a variety of sectors across the globe, from management consulting to the United Nations, and once spent three months examining invasive snails in Vietnam. Justin discovered The Motley Fool in 2012 and it’s been love ever since. Creativity, contrarianism, kerfuffling… what more could one want? When he’s not playing the Fool, you can find Justin at the University of Auckland, where he is pursuing a Masters in Economics as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Justin finds biogas digesters fascinating and can unicycle a mile in seven minutes.

Published August 22, 2013 6:23 am AEST

ResMed (ASX: RMD) shareholders might be able to sleep better at night after today's news. The company announced today that the International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to investigate Chinese company BMC Medical and its Florida-based distributors for possible patent infringement.

ResMed alleges that BMC has copied several of its key inventions, including "positive airway passage" devices, nasal pillows, and nasal mask. ResMed is also suing BMC in federal U.S. courts, and is currently in the midst of similar legal action against Taiwanese manufacturer Apex Medical.

"We're encouraged by the ITC's action to investigate this case against BMC," said ResMed Global General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer David Pendarvis in a statement. "For more than two decades, ResMed has generated significant advances in innovative products for sleep-disordered breathing therapy. We invest over $100 million in research and development each year to fuel these advances and other companies should not be allowed to infringe ResMed's intellectual property by using our technology."

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Motley Fool contributor Justin Loiseau has no position in any stocks mentioned in this article. You can follow him on Twitter @TMFJLo.

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