NEW YORK – Nautilus Biotechnology last week filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of California asking for declaratory judgment of noninfringement on a patent covering intellectual property held by proteomics firm SomaLogic through a license from the California Institute of Technology.
Nautilus filed the complaint in response to notification from SomaLogic that its proteome analysis platform may infringe upon US Patent No. 7,842,793, which covers DNA origami technology and which SomaLogic obtained the rights to through its 2022 purchase of DNA nanotechnology firm Palamedrix.
DNA origami technology is key to Nautilus' proteome analysis platform as it allows the company to produce extremely dense protein arrays for analysis. Nautilus maintains, however, that the DNA origami structures used in its platform differ from those covered by the '793 patent. Nautilus plans to release the initial version of the platform around the middle of 2024.
According to the complaint, SomaLogic contacted Nautilus in July 2023 to alert it that its platform's use of DNA origami technology may infringe on the '793 patent. Nautilus responded with a letter in August asserting that its platform did not use the technologies covered by the '793 patent. This was followed by a December letter from SomaLogic's patent litigation attorney alleging that Nautilus "has infringed and continues to infringe" the '793 patent and demanding that the company "immediately cease and desist all infringing activities related to SomaLogic's intellectual property, including … the production, distribution, and use of the Nautilus Proteome Analysis Platform."
In response to the December letter, Nautilus filed its complaint asking that the court declare that it is not infringing the '793 patent; that it restrain and enjoin SomaLogic and CalTech from alleging that Nautilus' platform infringes the '793 patent or initiating actions against Nautilus or "customers, manufacturers, users, importers, or sellers" of the platform alleging infringement; and that it award Nautilus attorneys' fees and expenses associated with the case.