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Federal Court Judge Awards AgaMatrix Attorneys’ Fees While Admonishing Dexcom for “Bad Faith” Lawsuit

Written by: Juleen Ginty
Federal Court Judge Awards AgaMatrix Attorneys’ Fees While Admonishing Dexcom for “Bad Faith” Lawsuit

SALEM, NH and WILSONVILLE, OR, June 5, 2018. AgaMatrix, Inc., a developer of diagnostic technologies for glucose monitoring and wholly owned subsidiary of WaveForm Diabetes (formerly AgaMatrix Holdings, LLC), announced a prevailing outcome in a retaliatory patent infringement lawsuit brought by Dexcom, Inc. (NASDAQ: DXCM).

In a decision ruled earlier this year by the US District Court for the Central District of California, the honorable Judge S. James Otero granted summary judgment of non-infringement in favor of AgaMatrix, citing that AgaMatrix did not infringe upon Dexcom’s U.S. Patent No 7,081,195.

Following previous Court warnings to Dexcom that continued pursuit of the patent case with weak evidence for the infringement assertions could result in the granting of attorneys’ fees, Judge Otero issued an order in May 2018 finding that the case was “exceptional” and ordered Dexcom to pay AgaMatrix its costs, attorneys’ fees, and expenses defending against the case since August 1, 2017. The fees AgaMatrix is requesting are approximately $1.4 million.

The Court unequivocally ruled that “Dexcom filed a weak patent infringement case against AgaMatrix that became objectively baseless following the Court’s Markman order.” According to Court documents, Dexcom litigated the case in “bad faith” long after the Court issued decisions that “gutted” Dexcom’s basis for bringing the suit. In a stinging rebuke, the Court explained that Dexcom “should have known that its infringement theories…were indefensible as of the time the Court issued its Claim Construction Order.” However, Dexcom “forged ahead with its infringement claims and has fought any attempt by Defendant to clarify its vague positions or to quickly resolve the dispute.”

In Judge Otero’s decision to award AgaMatrix attorneys’ fees, he outlined Dexcom’s “continued refusal to provide a single, consistent theory of infringement and its insistence on asserting its case despite having no objectively reasonable infringement theory supports the conclusion that this is an exceptional case.” He also noted that Dexcom’s continued litigation and “vague and ambiguous infringement contentions” were demonstrations that they “acted in bad faith.”

This significant ruling is the latest development in a seven-case dispute between AgaMatrix and Dexcom, currently pending in five different fora. AgaMatrix originally filed suit against Dexcom in the US District Court for the District of Oregon, accusing Dexcom of willfully infringing upon three early patents held by AgaMatrix subsidiary WaveForm Technologies, in the field of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). In February 2017, AgaMatrix persuaded the Oregon District Court to adopt its proposed constructions of all of more than a dozen disputed patent claim terms.

A ruling by the Patent Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was issued in March 2018 in AgaMatrix’s favor, finding that claims of two of the three WaveForm Technologies patents are not invalid. Dexcom’s challenge relating to the third asserted WaveForm patent remains pending.

The underlying Oregon lawsuit, which is scheduled to recommence in October 2018, has significant financial implications–according to SEC reports, sales of Dexcom’s accused G4 and G5 CGM products total approximately $2 billion since 2012.

In response to the ongoing Dexcom litigation, AgaMatrix CEO, John Alberico, commented that he “is pleased with AgaMatrix’s succession of victories in multiple fora, and remains committed to vindicating Dexcom’s willful infringements of its pioneering patents in the field of continuous glucose monitoring.”

About WaveForm Diabetes (formerly AgaMatrix Holdings, LLC), AgaMatrix Inc. and WaveForm Technologies, Inc. 

WaveForm Diabetes (formerly AgaMatrix Holdings, LLC) is a holding company for two businesses that develop novel and proprietary technologies for diabetes care, AgaMatrix Inc. and WaveForm Technologies Inc.

AgaMatrix Inc. provides diagnostic technologies for diabetes care, including blood glucose monitoring devices and related firmware, software and data storage solutions. AgaMatrix has developed, manufactured and commercially launched 17 blood glucose monitoring products since the Company’s 2001 inception, and has sold over 2 million blood glucose monitors and over 7 billion disposable test strips. AgaMatrix Inc. owns and operates manufacturing and engineering facilities in Salem, NH USA and in Guangdong Province, China.

WaveForm Technologies Inc. discovers and develops novel and proprietary new technologies for diabetes care. WaveForm’s products under development include innovative continuous glucose monitoring technology, which is currently undergoing human clinical trials, and related firmware, software and data storage platforms. WaveForm is also developing a proprietary “closed loop” insulin delivery platform designed to provide a complete solution for patients living with diabetes.

Forward-Looking Statements and Historical Financial References

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which provide our current expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation:

  • information concerning possible or assumed future operations, business plans, product development plans or financial results for WaveForm Diabetes and WaveForm Technologies Inc.;
  • statements about our potential or prospects for future product sales;
  • statements about our future levels of operating expenses, or operating profit or loss;
  • statements about our research and product development activities and schedules;
  • statements about our future capital requirements and the sufficiency of our cash, cash equivalents, investments and other sources of funds to meet these requirements;
  • other statements about our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions; and
  • other statements that are not historical fact.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “anticipate,” “believe” or “intend,” but the absence of those words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements for many reasons.

You should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events after the date of this press release, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

For Additional Information Contact
Cara Mottolo, WaveForm Diabetes and WaveForm Technologies Inc.
(603) 328–6000
investors@agamatrix.com

Written by: Juleen Ginty

Is a marketing and design strategist with a focus on building brands, digital content, and thoughtful product design for the healthcare industry. She has a passion for marrying creativity with complex, technical fields and helped launch medical devices through Sanofi, CVS, Target, AgaMatrix, and other consumer brands. Growing up with a family member who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, Juleen dove into understanding the diabetes industry, advances in technology, and patient perspective for the past 12 years, with the goal of delivering solutions that improve the way people manage their health.

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