NEW YORK, June 1 - Qiagen subsidiary Operon said it has discontinued sales of its pre-fabricated, medium-density OpArrays in North America, due to concerns that they might infringe on Affymetrix’s patent portfolio.
Operon attorneys have interpreted Affymetrix’s patents as covering any array with over 60 unique features per square centimeter, while they previously interpreted Affymetrix’s patents as covering any array with over 400 features per square centimeter.