Wednesday July 19, 11:10 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
District Court Interprets ACLARA's '015 Patent
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--July 19, 2000--ACLARA BioSciences (Nasdaq:ACLA - news) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has issued an order interpreting the claims of ACLARA's US Patent No. 5,750,015 (the '015 patent) covering a method and device for moving molecules by the application of a plurality of electrical fields. ACLARA sued Caliper Technologies (Nasdaq:CALP - news) for patent infringement in April, 1999.
The Court accepted ACLARA's interpretation of most of the disputed terms and phrases. For example, the Court refused to limit the claims to devices that employed electrophoretic, but not electroosmotic, movement as Caliper had asserted. The Court also held that, in the context of ACLARA's patent, the term ``plurality of electrodes'' defines electrodes that are positioned along the axis of trenches in microfluidic devices, but not necessarily within the trenches themselves. Among its rulings, the Court determined that the word ``trench'' as it appears in the claims of the '015 is defined as an open structure which does not include a structure that has been permanently covered. In addition, the Court held that eight of forty-seven claims in the '015 were indefinite and, therefore, invalid.
``We are encouraged that the judge accepted most of our term interpretations,'' said Joseph A. Limber, ACLARA's president and CEO. ``We had anticipated that the Court would have adopted our interpretation of all of the claim language. Nevertheless, we believe that the rulings that narrow our claims will be corrected ultimately.''
Mr. Limber continued, ``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. We continue to be confident that our technology, our business partners and our substantial intellectual property estate provide great opportunity for ACLARA and its shareholders. We have over 90 patents and patent applications relating to the design and use of microfluidic chips, the production of microfluidic chips in polymeric materials, the control of electrokinetic flow in polymeric chips, proprietary chemistries for nucleic acid sample processing, and our proprietary eTags(TM) technology for multiplexed detection of nucleic acids and proteins. We expect that each of our products will be protected by multiple ACLARA patents, regardless of the final outcome of this lawsuit.''
Michael W. Hunkapiller, PhD, president of Applied Biosystems (Nasdaq:PEB - news) and senior vice president of PE Corporation, commented, ``This ruling does not impact our strong relationship with ACLARA, which is based on ACLARA's entire portfolio of technology, capabilities and intellectual property. We remain committed to developing and delivering innovative products for life science research based on the broad combination of technologies from ACLARA and Applied Biosystems.''
ACLARA BioSciences is a leading developer of microfluidic lab-on-a-chip technology, with access to the wide range of technology and intellectual property required to address multiple high-value, high growth segments of the genomics and pharmaceutical drug screening markets. The company is developing advanced tools for drug discovery and genomics using its proprietary microfluidics array technology and assay chemistries. By performing integrated sample processing and analysis on plastic microfluidic array LabCard chips, these tools enable the rapid, parallel processing of large numbers of samples while requiring only minute volumes of expensive or rare reagents.
Note: Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those discussed herein. In particular, the foregoing discussion of ACLARA's expectations as to the impact of the Court's ruling on claims construction and the potential outcome of patent litigation, the business outlook in the event of court rulings which are not in its favor with respect to this or other litigation with Caliper Technologies, product introductions and capabilities it expects to develop with PE Biosystems, and its expectations regarding the successful commercialization of its LabCard chips, involve risks and uncertainty. These risks include that: the outcome of patent litigation in which ACLARA currently involved is uncertain and may have substantive effect on the company's competitive positioning and financial results, or may prevent ACLARA from developing new products or enhancing or marketing current products; ACLARA's LabCard systems are new and may not achieve market acceptance; ACLARA's partners may encounter technological or other difficulties preventing or delaying the introduction of new products or enhancements; ACLARA's partners may not perform under the agreements as ACLARA expects. These and other risks related to ACLARA are under the heading ``Risk Factors'' contained in ACLARA's Prospectus dated March 20, 2000 relating to the Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the SEC. |
