11 Jan Wisconsin court halts Abbott's sale of genotyping products
Madison, Wis. – The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin has entered a permanent injunction against Abbott Laboratories, preventing the pharmaceutical company from further sales or use of products or components that infringe on a genotyping patent held by Innogenetics, a biopharmaceutical company based in Gent, Belgium.
The injunction comes after the court upheld a $7 million damage verdict against Abbott. In September of 2006, a Wisconsin jury unanimously found that Abbott had willfully infringed on the patent, which covers a method of genotyping the Hepatitis C Virus, and also awarded damages.
In ruling that the Innogenetics patent was valid, the court overturned the jury’s finding that Abbott’s infringement had been willful, but also upheld the damage verdict and dismissed Abbott’s request for a new trial on infringement.
Innogenetics, which sued Abbott in September of 2005, is considering an appeal on the issue of willfulness.
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