Beckman Coulter loses late-stage bid to pause infringement proceedings

The US District Court for the District of Delaware has denied a motion from Beckman Coulter to stay an patent infringement lawsuit involving Sysmex Corporation until parallel proceedings at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit are concluded.

The Danaher subsidiary asked the court to pause proceedings in Delaware last month pending the resolution of Sysmex’s appeal of a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) inter partes review decision that invalidated claims of its blood analyser patent.

Sysmex had initially sued Beckman Coulter for patent infringement in the Delaware court in 2019, alleging that the company had infringed on two patents—US patent  numbers 10,401,350 and 10,401,351—with its competing UniCel DxH blood analyser products.

Beckman Coulter responded by challenging claims of the ‘351 patent in IPR proceedings at the PTAB. The PTAB ruled that the patent was invalid as obvious over prior art.

In an oral order handed down on Thursday, Judge Christopher Burke denied the motion to stay proceedings, claiming that the case was already at an “incredibly late-stage” with the court in the midst of deciding a summary judgment.

Burke claimed that Beckman Coulter could have moved to say the case when the PTAB final written decision in February “but for whatever reason” chose not to despite the “trial date barreling down on everyone”.

He noted that an affirmance by the court of appeals would “necessarily” establish the invalidity of the asserted claims in district court proceedings, but Sysmax still contends the scope of the claims in district court proceedings.

“This case—one that has been pending for years, and that has already seen its trial date moved once—needs to proceed to trial,” Burke concluded.

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