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5 December 2018Americas

GE Healthcare files patent lawsuit against Bio-Rad

American conglomerate GE Healthcare (GE) last week filed a lawsuit against California-based life sciences company Bio-Rad Laboratories on four counts of patent infringement.

The case was brought (pdf) in the US District Court for the District of Delaware on Friday, November 30.

The claims relate to Bio-Rad’s next generation chromatography (NGC) system for protein purification. GE claimed that the NGC system infringes its four patents for an “Automated fluid handling system”, which claim priority to US patent number 8,821,718.

Protein purification refers to the process of isolating individual proteins from complex mixtures. GE launched two protein purification systems, ÄKTA pure and ÄKTA avant, in 2009.

The multinational accused Bio-Rad of intentionally copying the design of its ÄKTA range for the NGC system. In particular, the claim relates to a modular design for a protein purification system, which GE argued is protected by its patents.

GE claimed its Sweden-based subsidiary Bio-Sciences’ modular design was a “ground-breaking” innovation in the field of protein isolation. The division of the system into at least four modules is intended to both ease and quicken this process.

According to the claim, Bio-Rad’s NGC product intentionally copies this modular design for a protein purification system. GE accused Bio-Rad of misrepresenting its NGC system as “innovative”, despite GE having a similar product commercially available.

The two parties have been embroiled in litigation since 2014, when GE first brought a complaint against Bio-Rad in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York for infringing the ‘718 patent. The case has been stayed.

Bio-Rad challenged GE’s patent claims in September 2015, filing a petition with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seeking an inter partes review of the ‘718 patent.

The USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board concluded in February 2017 that claims 1-3 and 5 of GE’s ‘718 patent were unpatentable. These claims relate to an automatic fluid handling system with modular units of two or more sizes, and a master control system.

GE is seeking a permanent injunction preventing Bio-Rad from infringing its patent, in addition to damages and court costs.

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More on this story

Americas
13 January 2014   General Electric has bought three life sciences divisions from US company Thermo Fisher Scientific in a deal worth about $1.06 billion.
Americas
17 January 2019   US-based medical technology company GE Healthcare has entered into a five-year partnership with Vanderbilt University Medical Center to develop cancer immunotherapies using artificial intelligence.
Big Pharma
28 February 2019   General Electric (GE) will sell its biopharma business, which generated $3 billion in revenues for the conglomerate last year, to Danaher in a $21.4 billion deal.