NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Life Technologies and Biosearch Technologies have reached a settlement agreement and are asking a federal court to dismiss lawsuits the companies filed against each other for alleged patent infringement.
The firms filed a motion on Wednesday with the US District Court Southern District of California to dismiss Life Tech's lawsuit against Biosearch, filed in January 2011, as well as Biosearch's countersuit against Life Tech, filed five months later, as previously reported by GenomeWeb Daily News' sister publication PCR Insider.
The companies told the court that they have reached a settlement agreement and asked that the lawsuits be dismissed without prejudice. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Life Tech sued Biosearch claiming the Novato, Calif.-based supplier of oligonucleotides infringed US Patent No. 7,160,997, which relates to methods of using fluorescent energy transfer-labeled oligonucleoties that include 3'-to-5' exonuclease-resistant quencher domain. Life Tech was awarded the patent in 2007.
Biosearch denied the allegations and countersued Life Tech saying the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company breached a contract, engaged in unfair advertising and competition, and infringed three of Biosearch's patents, US Patent Nos. 7,019,129; 7,109,312; and 7,582,432, all titled "Dark quenchers for donor-acceptor energy transfer."
Last fall, after Life Tech asked the United States Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine all four patents, both companies filed a joint motion to put their lawsuits on hold as they awaited the USPTO's decision.
Life Tech and Biosearch did not respond to requests for comment.