Irvine-Based Allergan, Pilkington OK Moratorium on Marketing Dispute

Allergan Inc. of Irvine and Pilkington PLC have partially settled a legal dispute involving patent rights to make and sell several contact lens products.

Under the settlement, Sola/Barnes-Hind, a unit of Pilkington, and Allergan have agreed to a six-month moratorium on the litigation pending the outcome of a comparable lawsuit by Allergan against Alcon Laboratories.

During the moratorium, Sola/Barnes-Hind has agreed to stop selling an eye-cleaning product involved in the dispute pending the outcome of the Alcon litigation. Excluded from the ban are existing inventories in three foreign countries. Alcon also has agreed to stop sales of a similar product pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

Also as part of the settlement, Allergan has granted Pilkington a non-exclusive worldwide patent license to sell Sola/Barnes-Hind’s enzyme products for cleaning soft contact lenses under the Sola/Barnes-Hind brand name only.

Lastly, Pilkington has granted Allergan a semi-exclusive worldwide patent license to sell Allergan’s new Hydron ECHELON bifocal soft contact lens.