Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 19:14:46 EST
Subject: Court Order for Banfield To Stop All Sales of Microchips

Court Halts Nationwide Sale of Banfield Pet ID Chips

Fish & Richardson Announces Court Halts Nationwide Sale of Banfield
Pet ID Chips

SAN DIEGO --(Business Wire)-- Nov. 4, 2004 -- Judge Cites Potential
for "Serious, Irreparable Harm," Also Orders Banfield to Notify
Customers and Vets of Product Limitations Citing "the potential for
pets to be euthanized" as a result of deceptive advertising by
Medical Management International, Inc. dba Banfield, the Pet
Hospital, the San Diego Superior Court yesterday issued a
preliminary injunction blocking Banfield from selling or
advertising its pet ID microchips, sold under the name RecoveryChip.

Banfield Pet Hospitals are located in PETsMART stores throughout
the United States.

If Banfield wants to resume selling or promoting its RecoveryChip,
the court must first approve that Banfield's proposed
advertisements and other promotional materials disclose that the
chip "cannot be read by the vast majority of (microchip) scanners
in U.S. shelters."

Judge William C. Pate noted that Banfield's actions had created
a "risk of great, irreparable harm... specifically the increased
potential for pets to be euthanized while their owners believe them
to be safe."

The order is a result of a consumer protection lawsuit filed in May
2004, after Banfield's distribution of its chips triggered a strong
response by the pet shelter community calling on Banfield to halt
its practice.

Pet microchipping systems use a scanner (or reader) to read a small
microchip transponder that is injected under the skin of a pet. The
vast majority of U.S. animal shelters and vet clinics utilize a
scanner system based on 125 kHz.

Banfield introduced an incompatible 134.2 kHz microchip, used
mainly in foreign countries, which cannot be read by scanners used
by most American veterinarians and shelters.

The court also ordered Banfield "to notify all purchasers of its
RecoveryChip, or any other 134.2kHz electronic identification tags
it has sold, as well as all veterinarians to whom it has
recommended these products" of the chip's limitations. Finding that
consumers were "likely to be deceived" by Banfield's past
advertising and promotion efforts,
the court recognized that the circumstances presented
were "extraordinary and the potential for serious, irreparable harm
warrants the issuance of a mandatory preliminary injunction to
inform potentially affected pet owners."

The injunction requires Banfield's notification to be approved by
the court, and to state that only certain, specifically listed
shelters are equipped with scanners that can read Banfield's chip.
The notification also must disclose that the mere fact that
shelters have such scanners "does not guarantee that the shelters
will actually use those scanners on lost pets."
Finally, the notification must further disclose "that the majority
of shelters presently use a scanner that will not detect or read
(Banfield's) implanted chip."

"Veterinary medical communities throughout the U.S. believe that
Banfield's reckless introduction of a foreign microchip put U.S.
pet microchipping and recovery systems in jeopardy," said Hannis L.
Stoddard III, D.V.M. and president of AVID, one of the parties that
brought the lawsuit.

"Judge Pate's order may very well save pets' lives."

AVID manufactures FriendChips, a microchip pet ID tag that has been
used successfully throughout the country to reunite pets with their
families for years.

"Today's decision forces Banfield to take responsibility for its
actions and come clean with pet owners and veterinarians," states
Daniel Pascucci of Fish & Richardson, counsel for AVID and
veterinarian Robert Stonebreaker, D.V.M., who filed the consumer
protection lawsuit against Banfield.

"It is an important step in stopping and remedying an advertising
campaign that the court recognized was likely to deceive consumers
and create a risk of unnecessarily euthanized pets."

A copy of the news release detailing the original lawsuit filed in
May 2004 is available at:
http://www.fr.com/news/articledetail.cfm?articleid=316
http://www.fr.com/news/articledetail.cfm?articleid=316

For more information about AVID, visit http://www.avidid.com./
http://www.avidid.com ..

For more information about Fish & Richardson, visit

http://www.fr.com