Press Release Source: Illumina, Inc.
Illumina Announces Outcome of First Phase of Its Patent Litigation against Affymetrix
Tuesday March 13, 3:31 pm ET
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN - News) announced today that a federal jury in Wilmington, Delaware found that Illumina infringed the five patents asserted by Affymetrix and ordered Illumina to pay approximately $16.7 million in damages to Affymetrix for sales by Illumina through the end of 2005. Mr. Jay Flatley, Illumina's Chief Executive Officer, stated:
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"We disagree with and plan to appeal the present finding of infringement in this lawsuit, and note that this finding was made without consideration of the validity and enforceability of any of the patents asserted by Affymetrix. That infringement finding is therefore preliminary. With respect to damages, Illumina notes that the jury rejected Affymetrix's request for lost profits, and awarded less than half of the total damages sought by Affymetrix in this trial.
"The case will now proceed to the next phases during which we will have the opportunity to demonstrate that the jury's infringement verdict should not stand because these claims are invalid and unenforceable. In the meantime, we will continue to sell the products that are the subject of this suit and no damages will be payable to Affymetrix until all appropriate appeals have been taken.
"Like many other companies, we respect the valid and enforceable intellectual property rights of others. Consistent with our policy, we believe that we acted properly with respect to these Affymetrix patents and that, ultimately, our position will be vindicated. In the meantime, we will continue to defend and support our customers against Affymetrix's unfounded claims, and are currently engaged in other proceedings against Affymetrix both at the U.S. and European Patent Offices to ensure that Illumina's patent rights prevail and to limit Affymetrix's overly broad approach to patent protection."
The federal jury ordered Illumina to pay approximately $16.7 million in damages to Affymetrix based on a royalty of 15 percent for certain products launched before and sold by Illumina through 2005. In July 2004, Affymetrix brought this suit against Illumina in front of Judge Joseph J. Farnan of the U.S. District Court for Delaware. Affymetrix accused Illumina of infringing U.S. Patent Nos. 6,646,243 (the '243 patent), 6,355,432 (the '432 patent), 5,545,531 (the '531 patent), 6,399,365 (the '365 patent) and 5,795,716 (the '716 patent). In a February 2007 pre-trial order, the Court explained that it had decided to address Illumina's defenses of invalidity and enforceability of the patents-in-suit, as well as Illumina's claims for unfair competition and antitrust violations, in subsequent trials. We believe these subsequent trials will confirm the strong invalidity and unenforceability positions we have taken throughout this case with respect to all of the patents asserted by Affymetrix, and that our invalidity and unenforceability defenses to all of these Affymetrix patents were strengthened by the Court's August 2006 rulings on claim construction.
"We continue to feel very strongly about our position that Affymetrix' allegations are without merit and we look forward to presenting our invalidity defenses, in addition to our counterclaims including Affymetrix' inequitable conduct in this case, and ultimately to obtaining favorable results to that effect," said Jay Flatley, Illumina's CEO. |
