01 Sep Third Wave wins patent lawsuit against California firm
Madison, Wis. – Third Wave Technologies, a developer and marketer of molecular diagnostics products, announced on Thursday that it has won a patent infringement lawsuit against Stratagene Corp., a life sciences developer based in La Jolla, Calif.
The decision, which was passed by a federal jury in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, said that Stratagene’s line of FullVelocity reagents had infringed on two patents held by Third Wave.
A jury will now begin hearing arguments with respect to damages.
The company filed suit in September 2004, claiming FullVelocity’s testing chemistry mechanics overlapped with its protected nucleic acid technology. In the initial lawsuit Third Wave sought a permanent injunction preventing the sale of all FullVelocity products and financial compensation.
In May Stratagene filed a related suit against Third Wave, claiming that the company’s Invader technology infringes on five patents held by Stratagene over FullVelocity. That suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware and seeks monetary damages as well as a permanent injunction against Third Wave for the sale of its Invader Plus products.
Stratagene on Saturday announced it would appeal the verdict, stating in a news release that “the jury’s verdict and the damages awarded were not supported by the facts of the case.”
Rod Hise, director of corporate communications and investor relations at Third Wave Technologies, said the case settled Thursday is the second patent infringement lawsuit filed over the technology. In 2002, a suit was filed against Eragen Biosciences, which was settled before trial when Eragen removed the questioned product from the market.
“We’re very pleased with the verdict – it certifies and upholds our chemistry, the chemistry that is at the foundation of all our products,” Hise said. “The outcome of this trial is to reinforce the strength and the value of our intellectual property.”