Judge Rejects Fraud Charges Against Visx

Visx Inc. won an unexpected legal victory as a Federal Trade Commission judge in Washington dismissed a government complaint accusing the largest U.S. maker of vision-correction lasers of patent fraud. The news helped push Visx shares to an all-time high. Visx rose $17.13 to close at $71.88, after hitting a record $72.56 earlier in the day. The shares also benefited from news that the company would be included in the Nasdaq 100 index. Administrative Law Judge Stuart A. Levin rejected FTC staff charges that Santa Clara, Calif.-based Visx violated antitrust laws by withholding crucial information from patent examiners. The FTC staff has the right to appeal to the agency’s four commissioners. If the FTC ultimately wins the case, Visx would be barred from enforcing a key patent underlying its success in the vision-correction business and leave the company vulnerable to private antitrust lawsuits.