scientist-istock-505918900
gevende / iStockphoto.com
5 April 2017Americas

Educational institutions in cancer patent spat

The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System and cancer research company Gensetix have filed a patent complaint against Baylor College of Medicine, Diakonos Research and an inventor called William Decker.

Filed on Monday, April 3 at the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the complaint alleged that the college, cancer research company and Decker had infringed two of the board’s patents.

The board is the governing body of the University Texas System, which is a collection of educational institutions.

The patents, US numbers 8,728,806 and 9,333,248, cover cancer treatment technology.

Gensetix is now the exclusive licensee of those patents.

Decker was the inventor of the patents, but assigned all his rights to the University of Texas, according to the claim.

He was working for the university at the time of invention, but when his employment ended in 2011, he began working for Baylor College.

Decker allegedly filed new patent applications which were based on technology owned by Gensetix and were similar to the patents currently owned by the University of Texas.

He then allegedly licensed those patent applications to Diakonos.

In 2014, Gensetix sought to acquire patent rights for any patent applications that Decker or Baylor College may submit for cancer treatments based on the technology covered by Genestix’s exclusive licence agreement.

But while Gensetix and Baylor College were exchanging draft agreements, Decker allegedly approached Baylor College and discouraged it from going through with the potential deal.

The complaint said: “Decker’s interference in the prospective business relationship between Gensetix and Baylor College was independently wrongful.”

Gensetix has asked the district court to enter a judgment that Diakonos, Decker and Baylor College have infringed the two patents-in-suit.

It has also asked the court to enter a judgment that Decker has interfered with the company’s business opportunities, and for an award of damages.

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free newsletter and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.


More on this story

Americas
17 November 2017   A group of 14 educational institutions in Texas and biotech company TissueGen have sued a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson for infringing two patents covering biodegradable fibres.

More on this story

Americas
17 November 2017   A group of 14 educational institutions in Texas and biotech company TissueGen have sued a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson for infringing two patents covering biodegradable fibres.