Fonar Corp. v. General Electric Co.
"Fonar" was a dispute between medical device manufacturer Fonar Corporation and General Electric over Fonar's patent on MRI technology. Fonar's founder, Raymond Damadian, was issued U.S. Patent 3,789,832 (priority date 1972-03-17) for an "apparatus and method for detecting cancer in tissue" using the magnetic resonance of atoms. Damadian's patent was the first patent on an MRI machine issued in the United States. Also at issue was a later patent, U.S. Patent 4,871,966 issued in 1989, covering a method for obtaining MRI images of multiple planes at different orientations in a single scan. GE is a major manufacturer of MRI scanners, and Fonar sued GE for infringing these patents by producing its scanners as well as inducing others to infringe.
MRI Robot
The Automation and Interventional Medicine Robotics Lab at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has been developing enabling technologies for MRI-guided interventions. This work includes MR-compatible sensors, actuators, software, and controllers. The group has also developed various types of fully MRI-compatible robots for percutaneous prostate interventions and another one for guiding deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrode placement under real-time MR image guidance for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease.