Colton, Calif. A federal court has granted Pulmonetic Systems' motion for summary judgment filed Feb. 28 on a patent claim originally filed by Palm Springs, Calif.-based Bird Products.

Bird sued Pulmonetic last summer, alleging that Pulmonetic's LTV ventilator infringed its patent. In a written ruling, Judge Nora Manella stated that "no reasonable trier of fact could find equivalence between the [Bird] patent and the LTV ventilator."

Bird plans to appeal the decision. Jo Ann Shotwell, associate general counsel of Thermo Electron, Bird's parent company, noted that it was only one of several claims in the suit, which also alleges copyright violation, trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition. "We're not affected in any way by that single decision on that single claim," she said.

Said Pulmonetic president and chief executive officer Douglas DeVries: "We have known all along that Bird's case was without merit ... This order is only the latest in a series of favorable rulings from the court supporting our position."

DeVries added that the judgment will help Pulmonetic as it pursues a countersuit against Bird. That suit alleges that Bird filed the patent suit in bad faith and in an effort to harm its principal competitor in the portable ventilator market.