Menu
February 1, 2011

Pacific Biosciences Announces Favorable Ruling in Patent Interference Case With Life Technologies

MENLO PARK, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB) today announced

that the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences of the United States

Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has rendered a decision in a previously

announced patent interference provoked by Pacific Biosciences

related to single molecule sequencing. The decision cancels all patent

claims by Life Technologies Corporation involved in the interference.

In today’s ruling, the Board entered judgment against Life’s U.S. Patent

No. 7,329,492 (the ‘492 patent), holding that all of the Life claims

that were involved in the interference are unpatentable to them. The

‘492 patent was issued to Visigen Biotechnologies prior to that

company’s acquisition by Life Technologies. Pacific Biosciences claimed

priority based on an application filed 20 months prior to the Visigen

application. The Pacific Biosciences patent application is part of an

intellectual property portfolio acquired

from LI-COR Biosciences in 2008. Pacific Biosciences announced in

March 2009 that it was named Senior Party by the USPTO in the patent

interference case based on its earlier filing date.

In reaching its decision to cancel the Life claims, the Board agreed

with Pacific Biosciences’ assertion that the Life Technologies patent

specification does not adequately disclose the claimed invention. While

the Board determined that neither party was entitled to the broadest

claims presented, they denied Life’s request that a subset of Pacific

Biosciences’ claims be found unpatentable.

“The Patent Office has, in essence, stated that these claims of the Life

Technologies patent never should have been issued, and we completely

agree,” said Hugh Martin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of

Pacific Biosciences. “While the claims in this interference were not

related to our PacBio RS sequencing system, we believe that it is

important to protect and defend the full scope of our intellectual

property portfolio.”

About Pacific Biosciences

Pacific Biosciences’ mission is to transform the way humankind acquires,

processes and interprets data from living systems through the design,

development and commercialization of innovative tools for biological

research. The company has developed a novel approach to studying the

synthesis and regulation of DNA, RNA and proteins. Combining recent

advances in nanofabrication, biochemistry, molecular biology, surface

chemistry and optics, Pacific Biosciences has created a powerful

technology platform called single molecule, real-time, or SMRT™,

technology. SMRT technology enables real-time analysis of biomolecules

with single molecule resolution, which has the potential to transform

the understanding of biological systems by providing a window into these

systems that has not previously been open for scientific study.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking

statements may contain words such as “believe,” “may,” “estimate,”

“anticipate,” “continue,” “intend,” “expect,” “plan,” the negative of

these terms, or other similar expressions, and include the assumptions

that underlie such statements. These statements are subject to known and

unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to

differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements,

including but not limited to risks discussed from time to time in

documents we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,

including the risks identified under the section captioned “Risk

Factors” in our final prospectus relating to our initial public offering

filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as

amended, on October 27, 2010. All forward-looking statements are based

on management’s estimates, projections and assumptions as of the date

hereof. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking

statements.

Media:
For Pacific BiosciencesNicole

Litchfield, 415-793-6468
nicole@bioscribe.com
or
Investors:
Pacific

BiosciencesBen Gong, 650-521-8450
ir@pacificbiosciences.com

Source: Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc.

News Provided by Acquire Media

Talk with an expert

If you have a question, need to check the status of an order, or are interested in purchasing an instrument, we're here to help.