SAN DIEGO, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq: IVGN - news) today announced that three of its competitors in the research products market, Display Systems Biotech A/S, New England Biolabs, Inc. and Promega Corporation, have settled pending litigation for their infringement of Invitrogen's patents which cover, among other things, modified reverse transcriptase enzymes having reduced levels of RNase H activity. The Invitrogen patents at issue include U.S. Patent Nos. 5,405,776, 5,244,797, 5,668,005 and 6,063,608.
``An important part of our business success is due to the unique nature of our technology platform and the product differentiation we create by using our proprietary technology,'' said Lyle Turner, Invitrogen's Chairman and CEO. ``These settlements are particularly significant since each competitor admitted that these patents are valid and enforceable and that their manufacture, use and sale of RNase H minus reverse transcriptases infringed our patents.''
In the Settlement Agreements, Display Systems Biotech, New England Biolabs, and Promega agreed to pay Invitrogen damages for selling RNase H minus reverse transcriptase products to the research products market. In addition, each competitor agreed to cease all infringing activities and to destroy all inventory of infringing products.
Invitrogen currently markets, for research use, a number of proprietary products covered by this intellectual property, including SuperScript(TM) and ThermoScript(TM) RNase H minus Reverse Transcriptases and SuperScript cDNA Libraries. The RNase H activity associated with native reverse transcriptases degrades the RNA template molecule to be copied, making it difficult to make full-length cDNA. Accordingly, Invitrogen's patented technology allows more efficient production of full-length cDNA and is thus a key element in on-going genomic programs.... |
