The story has been updated to include comments from Complete Genomics.
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Illumina said today that a federal court has issued a claim construction order in the company's patent infringement lawsuit against Complete Genomics.
The order from Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the US District Court for the Northern District of California adopts constructions that Illumina said is "favorable" to its case for the key terms in the litigation. Illumina added that it believes the court's interpretations affirm "the breadth of the patent and Illumina's position that Complete Genomics infringe" the patent in dispute, US Patent Number No. 6,306,597.
A claim construction order is a legal procedure in which a judge sets the definition of terms that comprise the patent claims.
Illumina filed its lawsuit in August 2010 originally in US District Court for the District of Delaware alleging Complete Genomics infringes a total of three patents: US Patent Nos. 7,232,656 and 7,598,035, as well as the '597 patent. The case was later moved to the Northern California court.
The '597 patent pertains to methods in which an "initializing oligonucleotide is hybridized to a target polynucleotide, a labeled nucleotide probe is ligated to the initializing oligonucleotide to form an extended duplex, and one or more nucleotides of the polynucleotide are identified based on the label associated with the probe," according to Illumina's complaint, which also said that the firm owns all right, title, and interest on the patent.
In a statement today, Illumina President and CEO Jay Flatley said, "We are very pleased with the court's claim construction order and look forward to proceeding with the remainder of the case."
Illumina is seeking lost profits, a reasonable royalty, and a permanent injunction in its lawsuit.
Cliff Reid, Chairman, President, and CEO of Complete Genomics said in a statement to GenomeWeb Daily News, "The claim construction hearing resulted in the definitions of multiple terms in the patent claims, some favorable to Complete and some favorable to Illumina. Given this claim construction, we believe that we have substantial and meritorious defenses to the claims and intend to vigorously defend against this lawsuit."