NEW YORK – NanoString Technologies said Monday evening that the European Unified Patent Court (UPC) Court of Appeal has overturned a preliminary injunction against the company that was previously issued by the UPC Munich local division in September.
The decision allows NanoString to immediately resume sales of all CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager (SMI) products in 16 impacted UPC member countries, the company said: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden.
The UPC Court of Appeal’s detailed ruling cited "substantial concerns" about the validity of the asserted claim of European Patent 4108782B1, held by 10x Genomics, according to NanoString, noting that it is "highly probable that the patent will not prove to be legally valid."
Meanwhile, in a separate decision in December concerning the related European patent 2794928 B1, the German Higher Regional Court of Munich ordered the lifting of an injunction on the sale of CosMx products in Germany subject to a security bond payment, NanoString said. The firm is evaluating its next steps in Germany and, for now, the German injunction remains in place.
"We have maintained from the outset of this case that the patents being asserted by 10x and Harvard against us are invalid," NanoString President and CEO Brad Gray said in a statement. "The court’s ruling is significant validation of our position."
"We believe that with today's decision, the tide is turning in favor of NanoString and scientific freedom," he continued, noting that 10x's litigation "has caused untold disruption to scientific progress and tremendous harm to NanoString's customers, employees, and investors."
Earlier this month, NanoString filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing damages it was ordered to pay as a result of its loss against 10x in a US patent infringement suit as the prime reason. The firm subsequently secured $47.5 million in loan funding.
10x Genomics did not respond to a request for comment before deadline.