The Jackson Laboratory has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a university in China has been selling mice that are descendants of ones bred at the lab for research, the Hartford Courant reports. It adds that the lab filed the suit in a federal court in Maine to seek arbitration between it and Nanjing University.
Jackson Laboratory sells mice for research, including ones with genetic mutations that model human diseases. According to the Bangor Daily News, the lab alleges that Nanjing University purchased two mouse strains from them between 2002 and 2014 for research use and bred them, despite contractual prohibitions against doing so. The Daily News adds that the lab has accused the university of selling the resulting mice at "cut-rate prices."
The lab further accuses the university of continuing to sell the mice after assuring the lab last year that it would stop, the Courant says.
"Our mice are the most published mouse models in the world for very good reason, and we take our relationships with research institutions around the globe very seriously," Jackson Lab spokeswoman Stephanie Wasco tells the Courant.