SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Fluidigm Corporation (NASDAQ:FLDM) today announced it has filed litigation against NanoString Technologies, Inc., a privately-held company in Seattle, Washington, for false advertising, unfair competition, and unlawful trade practice in violation of the Lanham Act and corresponding sections of the California Business & Professional Code. The complaint was filed in federal district court in the Northern District of California.

Fluidigm alleges that NanoString’s advertising campaign, including its white paper entitled “Make Every Cell Count with nCounter® Single Cell Gene Expression Assay,” is based on a rigged “head-to-head” comparison between the BioMark™ HD System and NanoString’s nCounter Single Cell Assay. Fluidigm charges that NanoString’s testing was intentionally flawed in both its design and execution. The complaint alleges that, as a consequence, NanoString is purposely misleading potential customers in an attempt to improperly bolster its limited market share.

“We have no problem whatsoever with competition, but when another company aggressively misleads the customer base, that is not OK,” said Gajus Worthington, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fluidigm. “The BioMark HD System has been successfully deployed in research labs throughout the world, with over 50 peer-reviewed publications in the emerging single-cell genomics field. Especially when scientists are working hard to unlock major new discoveries, misrepresentations and false advertising are toxic and stifle progress by misdirecting precious efforts and funding. We are bringing this action against NanoString to ensure this improper activity stops.”

About Fluidigm

Fluidigm (NASDAQ:FLDM) develops, manufactures and markets microfluidic systems for growth markets in the life science and agricultural biotechnology, or Ag-Bio, industries. Fluidigm’s proprietary microfluidic systems consist of instruments and consumables, including integrated fluidic circuits, assays and other reagents. These systems are designed to significantly simplify experimental workflow, increase throughput and reduce costs, while providing the excellent data quality demanded by customers. Fluidigm actively markets four microfluidic systems, including 13 different integrated fluidic circuits, to leading academic institutions, diagnostic laboratories, and pharmaceutical, biotechnology and Ag-Bio companies. Fluidigm products are marketed for research purposes only (not for diagnostic use).