Nice pop on this news.
Jason
Thursday July 20, 1:09 am Eastern Time
Court interprets language in Aclara-Caliper suit
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 19 (Reuters) - Caliper Technologies (NasdaqNM:CALP - news) and Aclara BioSciences (NasdaqNM:ACLA - news), whose lab chips are used to conduct sophisticated biotech experiments, said on Wednesday a federal court accepted Caliper's interpretation of key terms in a patent suit filed by Aclara.
``The Court has clearly ruled in favour of Caliper on the meaning of the most critical terms of Aclara's '015 patent,'' said Dan Kisner, Caliper chief executive.
``Based upon this ruling, we expect to file a motion for summary judgment in an effort to bring an early resolution to Aclara's patent suit against us.''
Aclara said the court accepted its interpretation of some disputed terms and phrases. For example, the court did not limit the patent's claims to devices that used electrophoretic but not electroosmotic movement.
It also held that the term ``plurality of electrodes'' defines electrodes that are positioned along the axis of trenches but not necessarily within the trenches.
Still, newly public Aclara noted it had expected the court to adopt all its interpretations of the patent's language.
``Our business success does not depend on any single patent, and this ruling has no effect on Aclara's freedom to operate within the field of microfluidics,'' said Joseph Limber, Aclara chief executive.
The companies currently are involved in three lawsuits, Caliper noted. Aclara initiated this patent suit in April 1999. Caliper has filed two suits against Aclara, one in March 1999 alleging trade secret misappropriation and the other in January 2000 alleging infringement of five patents.
Shares of Aclara, which held its initial public offering in March, closed at 49-15/16 on Wednesday, off a high of 66 but up from a low of 20.
Caliper ended Wednesday at 47-7/8, up from a year low of 22- but off a high of 202.
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