Intuitive Surgical Names Frank D. Nguyen as Vice President, General Counsel

SUNNYVALE, CA, May. 28, 2004 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG), the leader in operative surgical robotics, today announced the addition of Frank D. Nguyen to its Management. Mr. Nguyen joined Intuitive at the end of April as Vice President and General Counsel. He has nearly two decades of engineering and legal experience. Prior to joining Intuitive Surgical, Mr. Nguyen was Director of Intellectual Property (IP) and Patent Counsel at Macrovision Corporation, an IP-centric developer of copy protection and rights management solutions for software, audio, and video content, during Macrovision's explosive growth period over the past 5 years.

At Macrovision Mr. Nguyen was responsible for managing and developing Macrovision's worldwide patent portfolio, leading and managing Macrovision's IP related litigations, as well as forming and implementing Macrovision's IP strategies. Frank Nguyen was also leading Macrovision's aggresive enforcement efforts to identify and prosecute hackers and marketers who distribute and market illicit circumvention products through the use of leading edge legislations such as the Digital Millennium Copy Right Act and the help of government agencies such as the US Customs & Border Protection Office and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Some of Frank's major business accomplishments at Macrovision include his leadership in litigation which resulted in Macrovision's license management patents becoming much stronger, his work on the acquisition of key patents, and his efforts in subsequent legal proceedings which have resulted in Macrovision becoming a major player in the Digital Rights Management space.

Intuitive Surgical welcomes this addition to its executive team and believes that Frank Nguyen fills a crucial role in the company's effort to continue to enhance its legal and corporate governance functions as well as to vigilantly protect its leadership in the area of robotics surgery through offensive and defensive IP strategies.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates reflecting the best judgment of our management and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various important factors, including the following: timing and success of product development and market acceptance of developed products; regulatory approvals, clearances and restrictions; guidelines and recommendations in the health care and patient communities; intellectual property positions and litigation; competition in the medical device industry and in the specific markets of surgery in which Intuitive Surgical operates; our ability to achieve anticipated synergies and cost savings of our acquisition of Computer Motion and the rate at which these anticipated synergies and costs savings are achieved; our ability to integrate the operations of Computer Motion with our operations, including the respective research and development operations, personnel, product lines and technology, and the rate at which the operations of the two companies are integrated; and unanticipated manufacturing disruptions, delays in regulatory approvals of new manufacturing facilities or the inability to meet demand for products. Words such as "estimate," "project," "plan," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Intuitive(R), da Vinci(R), InSite(R), EndoWrist(R), Hermes(R), and Aesop(R) are registered trademarks of Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

Contact:
Sarah Norton
Intuitive Surgical
408-523-2161
sarah.norton@intusurg.com

SOURCE: Intuitive Surgical