Genetic Technologies Ltd. (GTG) has reportedly settled a patent infringement lawsuit filed in late 2012 against PreventionGenetics. While the terms of the agreement are confidential, the companies have also apparently entered a licensing agreement. According to a news source, the litigation was just one of a number of suits filed by Australia-based GTG to protect U.S. Patent No. 5,612,179, covering its non-DNA coding technology.
The company has also announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which in March 2013 reaffirmed the validity of certain claims in the patent, has granted a second re-examination of the patent filed by Merial L.L.C., a defendant in an action GTG filed in May 2011. Noting that such re-examinations are a commonly employed, patent-infringement defense strategy and that “the ‘179 patent has prevailed in numerous litigation filings in the USA, resulting in positive outcomes in all instances,” the company indicates that its current actions may be delayed if the courts decide to stay the matters pending the re-examination process. See GTS ASC Announcement, April 19 and 29, 2013; GenomeWeb, April 29, 2013.