LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 6, 2002--The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (Austin Division) issued final judgment on Jan. 31, 2002 in favor of Stratagene. Invitrogen's allegations that Stratagene's competent cell products infringe have now been dismissed in their entirety.
Invitrogen originally sued Stratagene accusing all of its competent cell products of infringing U.S. Patent No. 4,981,797 (``the '797 patent''). Invitrogen, however, quickly began to retreat from its infringement allegations. On Aug. 23, 2001, Invitrogen voluntarily withdrew its allegation against all of Stratagene's electrocompetent cells and certain chemically competent cells. On Aug. 29, 2001, the District Court interpreted certain key limitations of the claims of the '797 patent finding that Invitrogen's patent was limited in scope. On Nov. 2, 2001, the District Court entered summary judgment of noninfringement in Stratagene's favor, resulting in substantially all of Stratagene's competent cell products being free of Invitrogen's infringement allegations. Following this decision, Invitrogen withdrew its remaining allegations, thereby releasing all of Stratagene's competent cell products from allegations of infringement.
Stratagene maintained from the outset of this litigation that its products were free of Invitrogen's intellectual property. The District Court's entry of final judgment removes all clouds of infringement from Stratagene's competent cell products and allows Stratagene to maintain its rightful leadership position in the competent cell market... |
