Illumina, Inc. (Nasdaq:ILMN) today announced that it has been served with a complaint filed on September 21, 2009 in the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware naming Illumina as a defendant. The complaint names as plaintiffs Life Technologies Corporation; Applied Biosystems LLC; a Russian research institute; two individuals listed as inventors on the asserted patents; and another individual who appears to have an ownership interest in the patents. The complaint alleges among other things that Illumina’s Genome Analyzer System infringes U.S. Patent Nos. 5,616,478; 5,958,698; and 6,001,568. These patents, which are directed to methods for DNA amplification, expire in 2012 and 2014.
“We will defend this suit vigorously,” said Jay Flatley, President and CEO of Illumina. “We respect the valid and enforceable intellectual property rights of others and, consistent with that policy, we believe that we acted properly with respect to these patents. In the meantime, we will continue to defend and support our customers against Life Technologies’ unfounded claims."
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