Nov 18 2005
Corning Incorporated has announced that the United States District Court for the District of Delaware has issued a ruling declaring that SRU Biosystems of Woburn, MA infringed on a patent exclusively licensed to Corning for optical biosensors that enable label-independent detection of chemical, biochemical and biological substances in a sample. The Court also found that SRU had induced infringement of the patent through its testing activities with a potential customer.
Corning had licensed the patent, U.S. Patent 4,815,843, from Artificial Sensing Instruments, ASI AG of Zurich, Switzerland, (ASI). The Court further ruled that the patent at issue is valid. Corning, in conjunction with ASI, filed the lawsuit in July 2003 to terminate SRU’s infringement. A schedule has been set by the Court for completion of the remaining issues in the case.
“We are gratified by the Court’s decision which highlights the strength and validity of Corning’s patent portfolio in this exciting new technology area. Corning's Life Sciences business segment has dedicated significant resources in developing a new state of the art capability in the field of label-independent detection, and remains committed to bringing key products utilizing this platform to the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries,” said Dr. Jeffrey L. Mooney, commercial technology director, Corning Life Sciences. “Corning has identified this platform as a key growth opportunity, continues to build its intellectual property position in this area, and will remain diligent in protecting its significant long-term investment.”
Beta testing evaluations of Corning’s Epic™ system, a high throughput label-independent detection platform, are currently being conducted at select pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic institutions. Full commercial launch of Corning's Epic™ system is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2006.
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