Radiation oncology firm Elekta and William Beaumont Hospital of Royal Oak, MI, have filed a patent suit against radiation therapy vendor Varian Medical Systems.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, charges that Varian's TrueBeam linear accelerator infringes on patents owned by William Beaumont Hospital and exclusively licensed to Elekta, the company said.
It's not the first time the two firms have tangled. Varian filed litigation in 2012 that claimed two Varian sales representatives hired by Elekta took trade secrets to their new firm. The companies settled the litigation in 2013.
The companies also dueled in 2013 over changes in radiation therapy reimbursement. The changes would have sharply raised Medicare payments for therapy performed on Elekta systems, while the cost of treatment performed on Varian units would have remained the same. That spat was resolved with a rule issued by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
