Jury Awards Promega $52 Million for Infringement by Life Technologies
Promega sued Life Technologies in May 2010, claiming that Life Technologies’ AmpFISTR product line for amplification and typing of STR, Loci infringed four of its patents and a patent exclusively licensed from the Max Planck Institute (see IBO 9/30/10). According to court documents, per jury instructions, the award amount equals the profits that Promega lost due to Life Technologies’ sales of infringing kits. Life Technologies stated that it may be required to pay damages up to three times the award amount and recorded a $56 million charge in the fourth quarter 2011 related to the litigation, resulting in a GAAP diluted EPS decline of $0.18 for the quarter and year.
Madison, WI 2/15/12—A jury in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin has awarded Promega $52.0 million in damages for willful infringement of its Short Tandem Repeat (STR) patents by Life Technologies. The Court may increase the damages and will consider an injunction against Life Technologies for the sale of the infringing products, according to Promega. In November 2011, the Court confirmed the validity of the patents and found direct infringement due to Life Technologies’ sales of STR kits. “The Court’s ruling and the jury award confirm the value of Promega STR technology and its contributions to genetic analysis in the fields of research and molecular diagnostics,” said Promega CEO Bill Linton.
