Ruling in Life Technologies’ Appeal of Promega Verdict
The ruling reverses the jury’s earlier $52 million award for Promega. The ruling granted Life Technologies’ motion for judgment as a matter of law, finding that Promega failed to prove that all of the products under dispute were made or imported into the US and to show active inducement by Life Technologies to infringe. Promega stated the ruling did not overrule the jury’s holding that Life Technologies’ action were willful and therefore could be subject to trebling.
Madison, WI 9/13/12—Promega announced that the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin has overruled a February jury ruling in favor of Promega in the company’s 2010 patent infringement suit against Life Technologies (see IBO 2/29/12). According to Promega, the ruling leaves intact the prior ruling that Life Technologies’ US sales of short tandem repeat (STR) products for clinical and research applications would violate Promega’s patents. However, the court ruled that Promega did not sufficiently prove certain elements of its damages claim. All of Life Technologies’ remaining defenses and claims were dismissed. “While we are disappointed with the Court’ decision today, we are considering all available options to continue to pursue what we believe are valid claims against Life Technologies’ actions in the STR market,” stated Promega CEO Bill Linton. Promega said the ruling leaves significant issues unresolved.
