Suit Alleges Cooper Cos. Infringed on Patent

Cooper Cos. Inc., a Lake Forest maker of vision care products, said Tuesday that it has been sued by Ciba Vision Corp. for allegedly infringing on a patent for colored contact lens technology.

Cooper said in a press release that it has “thoroughly studied” the various patents involved and is “confident” that its color lens does not infringe on any “valid patent rights.” Cooper called Ciba’s claims against it and its CooperVision Inc. unit “without merit.”

Ciba, a unit of Novartis AG, said it and its Wesley Jessen Corp. unit charge in the lawsuit filed Monday that CooperVision’s Frequency Colors contact lenses infringe on the patents protecting Wesley Jessen’s FreshLook brand of contact lenses.

Ciba seeks to prohibit sales of the products by CooperVision, which recently began selling them in Florida and Puerto Rico.