NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Beckman Coulter and Orchid Cellmark have filed a lawsuit against Sequenom in the US District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging that Sequenom is infringing certain patents owned by Orchid and licensed to Beckman.
Beckman and Orchid allege in the complaint filed last week that Sequenom’s MassArray iPlex products for SNP genotyping applications infringe three patents owned by Orchid that were licensed to Beckman in December 2002. The three patents — US Nos. 6,004,744; 5,888,819; and 6,004,744 — cover methods of use and reagents used for genotyping applications, which are part of Beckman’s GenomeLab SNPstream Genotyping System.
Beckman and Orchid claim in the lawsuit that Sequenom was informed twice earlier this year that its products infringe the ‘819 and ‘744 patents.
The firms have asked the court to permanently enjoin Sequenom from selling products that they believe infringe the three patents. They also are seeking damages for lost profits and costs associated with the lawswuit.
Sequenom said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday that it believes “the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit and will vigorously defend against the claims advanced in the complaint.”
In early Tuesday trade on the Nasdaq, Sequenom’s shares were down 5.5 percent at $12.13.