[COOPER-NYSE LOGO] [COOPER COMPANIES LOGO]
21062 Bake Parkway, Suite 200
Lake Forest, CA 92630
888-822-2660
Fax: (949) 597-0662
NEWS RELEASE
CONTACT:
Norris Battin
The Cooper Companies, Inc.
ir@coopercompanies.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COOPER AND WESLEY JESSEN AGREE TO SETTLE PATENT SUITS
LAKE FOREST, Calif., October 3, 2002 -- The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO)
said today that it had reached a settlement of all pending patent infringement
litigation with CIBA Vision and its subsidiary Wesley Jessen. CIBA Vision and
Wesley Jessen had alleged that CooperVision's colored cosmetic contact lenses,
including Frequency'r' Colors and Expressions'r', infringed certain CIBA Vision
patents in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany.
Cosmetic lenses change or enhance the appearance of the color of the eye.
Terms of the settlement are confidential, but the agreement allows CooperVision
to continue selling its existing cosmetic lens products throughout the world.
CIBA Vision has agreed to license its color contact lens patents to CooperVision
in return for a royalty and a cross-license of some of CooperVision's
intellectual property rights.
Cooper's revenue and earnings guidance for 2002 and 2003 remains unchanged. For
fiscal 2002, Cooper estimates revenue between $312 million and $315 million and
earnings per share of $3.09 to $3.13. For fiscal 2003, Cooper estimates revenue
between $380 million and $400 million with earnings per share ranging from $3.95
to $4.05.
Forward-Looking Statements
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Some of the information included in this news release contains "forward-looking
statements" as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements include all statements regarding anticipated growth
in our revenue, anticipated market conditions and results of operations. To
identify forward-looking statements look for words like "believes," "expects,"
"may," "will," "should," "seeks," "intends," "plans," "estimates" or
"anticipates" and similar words or phrases. Discussions of strategy, plans or
intentions often contain forward-looking statements. These, and all
forward-looking statements, necessarily depend on assumptions, data or methods
that may be incorrect or imprecise.
Events, among others, that could cause actual results and future actions to
differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements include
major changes in business conditions, a major disruption in the operations of
our manufacturing facilities, new competitors or technologies, the impact of an
undetected virus on our computer systems, acquisition integration delays or
costs, increases in interest rates, foreign currency exchange exposure,
investments in research and development and other start-up projects, dilution to
earnings per share from acquisitions or issuing stock, regulatory issues,
changes in tax laws, significant environmental cleanup costs above those already
accrued, litigation costs including any related settlements, cost of business
divestitures, the requirement to provide for a significant liability or to write
off a significant asset, changes in accounting principles or estimates, and
other factors described in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings,
including the "Business" section in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended October 31, 2001. We caution investors that forward-looking statements
reflect our analysis only on their stated date. We disclaim any intent to update
them except as required by law.
About Cooper
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The Cooper Companies, Inc. and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market
specialty healthcare products. Corporate offices are in Lake Forest and
Pleasanton, Calif. A toll free interactive telephone system at 1-800-334-1986
provides stock quotes, recent press releases and financial data. Cooper's World
Wide Web address is www.coopercos.com.
CooperVision, Inc., markets a broad range of contact lenses for the vision care
market. Headquartered in Lake Forest, Calif., it manufactures in Huntington
Beach, Calif., Rochester, N.Y., Norfolk, Va., Adelaide, Australia, Farnborough
and Hamble, England, Madrid, Spain and Toronto. Its Web address is
www.coopervision.com.
CooperSurgical, Inc., with operations in Trumbull, Conn., Fort Atkinson, Wis.,
Malmo, Sweden, Montreal and Berlin, markets medical devices, diagnostic
products, surgical instruments and accessories for the gynecological market. Its
Web address is www.coopersurgical.com.
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