Taiwanese firm accuses Pacific Biosciences of infringing sequencing tech
In its suit, filed at the US District Court for the District of Delaware on Thursday, September 26, PGI accused Pacific Biosciences of infringing US patent 7,767,441 through the sale of its nucleic acid sequencing platform Sequel System.
According to PGI, in March 2010, the founder and CEO of Pacific Biosciences got in touch with PGI to express interest in the company’s sequencing technology, dubbed s-TOP (Sequencing on Top of Photodiodes).
Under a non-disclosure agreement, PGI provided business and technical information regarding the s-TOP sequencing technology and referenced an October 2007 provisional patent application to which the ‘411 claims priority.
Negotiations continued up until December 2011, when Pacific Biosciences said it wanted to suspend them, according to the claim.
Further negotiations began between September and November 2013, when Pacific Biosciences allegedly contacted PGI regarding a potential non-exclusive worldwide licence to PGI’s patent-protected technology.
“In 2014, PacBio sent PGI a proposed term sheet to license the ‘441 patent, among others. PGI and PacBio met for the last time on June 23, 2015. No further contacts between PacBio and PGI were made after this meeting,” said the claim.
The following year, Pacific Biosciences announced the launch of the Sequel System, followed by the launch of a new sequencer, the Sequel II System, in 2019. Both systems, according to PGI, infringe the ‘441 patent.
Now, PGI is seeking a finding of wilful infringement, enhanced damages, and attorneys’ fees. PGI has also asked the court to enjoin Pacific Biosciences from infringing the patent or, alternatively, to be paid ongoing royalties.
A spokesperson from Pacific Biosciences said: “We believe that the claims by Personal Genomics are without merit, and we will vigorously defend against the claims asserted in the complaint.”
On Wednesday, September 25, the day before the lawsuit, Pacific Biosciences filed a document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, extending its merger agreement with competitor Illumina to the end of the year.
In November last year, LSIPR reported that Illumina had agreed to buy competitor Pacific Biosciences for $1.2 billion.
Now, under the extended agreement, Illumina will make monthly cash payments to sustain Pacific Biosciences’ operations.
The deal has been slowed down by an antitrust investigation conducted by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.
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