NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Life Technologies, its Molecular Probes business, and the Regents of the University of California are suing eBioscience alleging infringement of three patents.
Affymetrix, which acquired eBioscience in June 2012 for $315 million, is not named in the lawsuit.
In a complaint filed last week with the US District Court Southern District of California, the plaintiffs allege infringement of US Patent Nos. 8,071,359; 8,071,360; and 8,071,361 by eBioscience products, including the eFluor Nanocrystals, which are a class of fluorophores made of semiconductor quantum dots.
Each of the patents were issued on Dec. 6, 2011 and subsequently assigned to the University of California, which later licensed them to Life Tech and Molecular Probes.
Each patent is titled "Semiconductor nanocrystal probes for biological applications and process for making and using such probes," and describes semiconductor nanocrystal compounds and probes, in which the compounds can link to one or more affinity molecules, according to the patents' abstracts.
The plaintiffs are requesting a temporary and permanent injunction against eBioscience from selling or making products that infringe the three patents, as well as damages. They also are asking the court to order eBioscience to destroy all products that infringe the patents.
Life Tech, Molecular Probes, and the University of California also sued eBioscience in October 2010 alleging infringement of three other patents, US Patent Nos. 6,423,551; 6,699,723; and 6,927,069. Those patents, each titled "Organo luminescent semiconductor nanocrystal probes for biological applications and process for making and using such probes," relates to semiconductor nanocrystal compounds that can be linked to an affinity molecule.
That case remains active.