NEW YORK – Bio-Techne has sued Molecular Instruments for allegedly infringing its RNAscope in situ hybridization (ISH) technology, owned by Bio-Techne's Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) brand.
The lawsuit, filed in the EU United Patent Court in the Netherlands, alleges that Molecular Instruments' HCR 3.0 technology infringes ACD's European Patent No. 1,910,572, entitled "Methods of detecting nucleic acids in individual cells and of identifying rare cells from large heterogeneous cell populations," and Patent No. 2,500,439, entitled "Kits and products for detecting nucleic acids in individual cells and of identifying rare cells from large heterogeneous cell populations."
Bio-Techne is seeking damages and an injunction against Molecular Instruments to stop infringing the ACD patents in certain European markets.
"Bio-Techne has made substantial investments to become the global leader in the rapidly growing spatial biology industry, including the development and application of its RNAscope technology as well as the acquisition of Lunaphore, which added the fully automated, high-throughput, hyperplex COMET platform to the portfolio," Kim Kelderman, president and CEO of Bio-Techne, said in a statement. "We will continue to diligently monitor the spatial biology industry, as well as all of the areas where we operate, for violators of our intellectual property and vigorously defend our position against any potential offenders."
Last year, Bio-Techne and Akoya ended a partnership to develop an automated workflow for the RNAscope tests with Akoya's PhenoCycler-Fusion System.