California Court Case Enters Important Phase; Computer Motion Sees a Clear Pathway to Successful District Court Appeal of Patent Office Rulings.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--June 3, 2002

Computer Motion (Nasdaq:RBOT) asserts the da Vinci Surgical System, made by Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq:ISRG), is infringing on at least eight patents owned by Computer Motion, encompassing approximately 47 claims. In addition, the recent adverse rulings from the Patent Office on two Computer Motion patents, (patent #s 5,855,583 and 5,878,193) will be appealed. This interference process is one of establishing rightful ownership to the pertinent claims embodied in the `583 and `193 patents. This will ultimately be decided in the appeals process. Patents `583 and `193 will remain issued to Computer Motion throughout this appeal process. It is only when, as, and if Intuitive Surgical prevails in the appeals process that they would be entitled to the disputed claims. No party can initiate a patent infringement action against another party without an issued patent. Computer Motion remains confident that the company will prevail and retain the claims in these two patents.

Computer Motion's Los Angeles, California suit against Intuitive Surgical, initiated over two years ago, is now progressing. A jury trial date has been set for next spring and Computer Motion looks forward to a positive resolution of this SIGNIFICANT and MATERIAL matter in the second half of 2003.

"We strongly disagree with Intuitive Surgical's recent public statements regarding the ramifications of the interference rulings upon our suit in the Los Angeles, California case. Patent infringement is illegal. We maintain that Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci Surgical System infringes on many claims embodied in our patents that are before the California court. We feel that we will ultimately prevail on our claims related to Intuitive Surgical's infringement. It is also important to realize that the violation of one claim within one patent is sufficient to prove our point, win our Los Angeles, California court case, and be awarded damages," stated Bob Duggan, Chairman and CEO of Computer Motion.

Computer Motion's products include: the ZEUS(R) Robotic Surgical System with MicroWrist(TM) for minimally invasive surgery, the HERMES(TM) Control Center, a centralized system that enables the surgeon to voice control a network of "smart" medical devices, and the AESOP(R) Robotic Endoscope Positioner, which was also the first surgical robot to be made commercially available in the U.S. The company's newest product, the SOCRATES(TM) Telecollaboration System, is the first device in the newly created FDA category of Robotic Telemedicine Devices, and is designed to facilitate surgeon collaboration using video and audio conferencing, shared control of the endoscopic camera, and video annotation on the surgical image in the operating room. The company's products are CE-Marked for commercial sale in the European Community. The company's Web site is www.ComputerMotion.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning the company's business and products. Actual results may differ materially depending on a number of risk factors, including the risks of competition and competing technologies, duration or suspension of clinical studies, regulatory clearances and approvals, and physician, hospital and payor acceptance of the company's products. These factors and other risks inherent in the company's business are described from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K. The company undertakes no obligation to revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.