NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Codon Devices and Blue Heron Technology announced today that they have settled a patent infringement suit filed last year by Codon against Blue Heron.
Codon sued the Bothell, Wash.-based gene synthesis firm in March 2007 for allegedly infringing five patents exclusively licensed to Codon by Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The suit, filed in a US District Court in Delaware, claimed that Blue Heron infringed Duke patents used to map gene mutations, manipulate genes, and fractionate DNA molecules, and an MIT patent used to screen for genetic variation.
As part of the settlement, Codon granted Blue Heron a perpetual, fully paid sublicense to continue to use error correction technology employed in its gene synthesis activities. Cambridge, Mass.-based Codon also said that it would ask the court to dismiss its suit against Blue Heron.
Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed.