Allergan Claims Victory: Allergan Inc., the Irvine...

Allergan Claims Victory: Allergan Inc., the Irvine manufacturer of eye and skin products, said Thursday that a federal court dismissed a San Gabriel Valley competitor’s claim that Allergan misrepresented the market for a silicone lens material used in a foldable artificial lens.

The lawsuit filed by Staar Surgical Co. Inc. of Monrovia stemmed from a 1990 settlement of a dispute over the patent on the foldable lens and a method to tack it to the eye during cataract surgery. Alleging that Allergan omitted information on the silicone material that would be used in the making of the lenses, Staar claimed that the settlement was invalid.

Allergan officials said the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles granted its motion to throw out the suit. Allergan plans to seek legal costs and to proceed with an unrelated patent-infringement suit it filed against Staar last year over an optical surgical tool.