(Corrects law firm name in third paragraph of article published on Jan. 8.)

Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Intuitive Surgical Inc. was sued by the California Institute of Technology, which claims the company's da Vinci system for robotic surgery infringes four patents held by the university.

The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, was described as ``outrageous'' and ``without merit'' by Lonnie Smith, Intuitive's chief executive officer, in a telephone interview today. The Sunnyvale, California-based company has filed a separate action, in federal court in San Francisco, seeking a declaration that Intuitive isn't infringing patents.

The Pasadena school's lawsuit, seeking an injunction and damages, was filed in Texas because the state and district present a favorable legal environment, said Michael Shore, an attorney with Shore Chan Bragalone LLP, the Dallas law firm that filed the suit for Caltech.

``Smart judges, good juries, excellent local rules,'' Shore said in a telephone interview today. ``It allows for a fast resolution.''

Intuitive's Smith said Caltech's ``contingency-based'' lawyers met with the company last week and threatened to file suit immediately and without further negotiations, if the company didn't agree to try the case in Texas.

`` We're a California company,'' Smith said. ``They're a California institution. Why are they filing suit in Texas?''

The answer, Smith said, is in the headline of a February 2006 article, in Technology Review magazine, about lawsuits in the eastern district of Texas: ``A Haven for Patent Pirates.''

Doctors use Intuitive's da Vinci surgical systems to perform microscopic movements that can be observed on a television monitor.

The shares of Intuitive fell by $2.88, or 3.1 percent, to $91.20 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq stock market composite trading. The stock has declined 24 percent in 12 months.

The original case is California Institute of Technology v. Intuitive Surgical Inc., 6:07-cv-00004-LED. U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Waters in San Francisco at rwaters5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 10, 2007 19:09 EST