NEW YORK – 10x Genomics and Vizgen this week settled an intellectual property dispute over patents covering spatial transcriptomics technology.
On Thursday, Judge Matthew Kennelly of the US District Court for the District of Delaware dismissed a US case mid-trial, which began Feb. 3. The suit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be revived.
10x Genomics said in a statement that the settlement covers global patent litigation. 10x had also sued Vizgen in Europe.
The parties agreed to bear their own costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees in the US case. Other details, including whether any money exchanged hands or if any IP exchange occurred, were not disclosed.
"We are very pleased to have reached a resolution of this litigation that recognizes the foundational importance of [George] Church's inventions in the field of in situ genomics," 10x Chief Legal Officer Eric Whitaker said in a statement.
"Vizgen is very pleased with the resolution agreed upon by the parties," the firm said in a statement. "It's a testament to the technology of our founders, led by Xiaowei Zhuang. Leaving litigation behind allows us to focus on innovation and science bringing back competition in the labs and out of the courtrooms."
10x sued Vizgen in the US in 2022, alleging infringement of patents acquired via ReadCoor, a Church lab spinout 10x bought in 2020 for approximately $350 million.
Last month, the US federal court allowed Vizgen to pursue claims that Harvard University's Office of Technology Development set Vizgen up to be sued by ReadCoor — a fellow Harvard spinout. Vizgen had alleged that as ReadCoor was in the process of being acquired, Harvard renegotiated the scope of its license with the startup to expand the field of use for technologies invented in Church's lab. Vizgen had in 2019 secured an exclusive license to spatial transcriptomics technology developed by Harvard's Xiaowei Zhuang.
Vizgen had also argued that it should have been able to license the Church lab patents. In October, Vizgen merged with Ultivue.
In Friday afternoon trading on the Nasdaq, shares of 10x were down 4 percent at $14.03.