BGI counter sues Illumina for patent infringement

A US subsidiary of Chinese genome sequencing company BGI has filed a patent infringement counterclaim against Illumina.

The claim, filed September 30 at the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Illumina is using a number of gene sequencers which infringe a patent (US number 9,944,984) owned by BGI’s US-based subsidiary, Complete Genomics.

The allegedly infringing sequencers are NovaSeq 6000, HiSeq X Ten, HiSeq 3000, and HiSeq 4000.

According to the filing, the patent covers BGI's proprietary “patterned array” technology. BGI said its “patterned array” technology is one of the underlying technologies for high-throughput, high-quality gene sequencing.

The company is seeking damages and an injunction which would require Illumina to stop selling the products.

The counter claim comes after Illumina sued BGI and its US affiliate Complete Genomics for patent infringement on September 18. Illumina alleged that the groups were infringing two of its patents (US numbers 7,566,537 and 9,410,200) for its DNA sequencing technology.

Illumina said BGI had started its commercialisation of the technology in China, outside the reach of US patent law, but was now importing its alleged infringing sequencers into the US.