Promega-Life Suit Takes New Turn
Finding that four of Promega’s patents were invalid, the appeals court reversed the lower court’s ruling on Life’s motion for summary judgment of invalidity and vacated the ruling granting Promega’s motion for summary judgment of infringement. The appeals court also found error in the lower court’s judgment of noninfringement of the ‘984 patent.
Washington, DC 12/15/14—The US Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial in Promega and Max Planck’s 2010 suit against Life Technologies, now Thermo Fisher Scientific, for infringement of five patents related to multiplex amplification of STR loci. In 2012, the jury’s $52 million award for Promega (see IBO 2/29/12) was overturned for failure to prove infringement (see IBO 9/15/12). Both companies filed appeals in the case. The appeals court found “substantial evidence” that Life is liable for infringement of US Patent No. RE 37,984 (“Process for Analyzing Length Polymorphisms in DNA Regions”), reversed the lower court’s ruling that overturned the jury award, and ordered a new trial to determine damages for infringement of the ‘984 patent. The appeals court ruled that the asserted claims of the other four patents are invalid for lack of enablement and affirmed the lower court’s finding that the companies’ license did not apply to all of Life’s sales of the product.
