NEW YORK, June 3 (GenomeWeb News) - Roche Diagnostics and Roche Molecular Systems are suing Enzo Biochem and Enzo Life Sciences to strike down Enzo's claims to microarray-related technologies, Enzo said today. The suit was filed after Enzo rejected a cash settlement offer from Roche as inadequate.
Enzo said it "will vigorously protect its assets and rights and will respond appropriately to this action."
Enzo claims that Roche broke a distribution and supply agreement the two companies signed in 1994, and that certain products and technologies "that were funneled by Affymetrix Inc. to Roche" belong to Enzo under an agreement the company has with Affymetrix.
The disputed technology relates to Enzo's US patent 4,994,373, "Method and structures employing chemically-labelled polynucleotide probes", which is also the subject of a lawsuit by Enzo against Affymetrix.