Applied Bio wins out in US PCR case
brought in the US by Promega, that strove to overturn the company's
patents on technology used in gene amplification using polymerase
chain reaction (PCR).
Promega had sued Applied Biosystems and Hoffman-La Roche in the long-running case, which recently came to a close in Europe. It centred on patents relating to process enzymes used in PCR, including Taq polymerase, used in clinical testing and drug discovery.
The Court ruled that Promega had failed to state a valid claim against Applied Biosystems and Roche. It also rejected Promega's statements that Applied Biosystems and Roche had made false claims to the US government in connection with their sales of Taq DNA polymerase, which is used to perform PCR.
This is the Court's final decision in this case, but is subject to an appeal by Promega. Promega's case, filed under the federal False Claims Act, was first dismissed in June 2004, when the Court determined that Promega had failed to state a complaint upon which relief could be granted. Promega originally filed this case on April 10, 2000.
Roche recently gave a firm sign of its confidence in the legal status of Taq DNA polymerase by starting construction of a €133 million production plant for PCR reagents in the US. However, it is now facing a fresh legal challenge from Applera, a reseller of its PCR technologies.
It has been suggested that Roche's newly-affirmed intellectual property position in the enzyme
