Pharma major Ranbaxy Laboratories on Thursday said it has scored a legal victory with a United States court ruling that its Cefuroxime Exetil product does not infringe upon the patent rights of GlaxoSmithKline.

After a full trial, the United States district court of New Jersey has determined that Ranbaxy's product does not infringe GSK's patent rights and the former is not required to pay any damages to GSK, Ranbaxy said in a statement in New Delhi.

Jay R Deshmukh, vice president, intellectual property, worldwide, Ranbaxy, described it as a major victory for the company.

The lawsuit had been brought by GSK in October 2000 relating to Ranbaxy's Cefuroxime Exetil product, a generic version of GSK's antibiotic Ceftin.

The district court had originally granted GSK a preliminary injunction. However, in 2001, Ranbaxy prevailed on its appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which vacated the preliminary injunction. After that Ranbaxy had commercially launched its product.