swimswim i dont think BD set out to copy someone else although...

swimswim i dont think BD set out to copy someone else although it is possible it is more likely that faced with the problem of producing a syringe that solved needlestick injuries several companies came up withe same solution only Unilife went to the end user i.e. medical professionals and asked what do you actually want the other companies looked at the problem and came up with a technology driven solution. It must have been reasonably logical because several companies came up with identical solutions .

The company that won against BD is Covidien although the patents were registered to another company at the time I have been unale to find out if that is because covidien bought the company or just changed their name

All i can say on the possibility of threatening patents is
1. the US patent office had the Unilife patent for a long time i think from memory about a year and didnt find a conflict
2.I have found no other company claiming to have a syringe or patent on a syringe that claims to have all the attributes of the unilife syringe Nor apparently did Sanofi or i cant see why they would of risked so much money.

Therefore i would draw the conclusion that a succesfull patent challenge although possible is unlikely

And any defence of market share by an incumbent is more likely to revolve around a very difficult and expensive takeover attempt