SonoSite disputes GE marketing claims

May 14, 2006

Compact-ultrasound developer SonoSite has taken issue with marketing claims made by GE Healthcare, in which the multimodality giant claims to have been the first company to market a compact cardiovascular ultrasound scanner.

SonoSite's general counsel sent a letter to GE earlier this month disputing claims made on GE's Web site, in marketing materials, and in its annual report, according to Anne Bugge, a spokesperson for the Bothell, WA, company. GE marketing materials from 2004 included the following statement: "GE Healthcare's new Vividi is the world's first miniaturized cardiovascular ultrasound system to provide high-performance, full-featured imaging in a lightweight design."

SonoSite says that it introduced the first general-purpose compact ultrasound scanner in 1999, and followed up with SonoHeart, the first cardiovascular compact ultrasound scanner, in 2000. GE launched Vividi in 2004.

Bugge said that SonoSite had not received a response from GE as of press time. GE spokesperson Brian McKaig said that the vendor is still reviewing the letter from SonoSite, but the company was in the process of changing the emphasis in its marketing for Vividi.

"Since GE completed our initial phase of marketing, our customers tell us that high imaging performance is more important than the history of the competing systems," he said. "We are already in the process of shifting the focus of our marketing to reflect the high performance of the compact systems instead of the timing."

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
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