On January 22, a US District Court issued a Markman ruling defining the claims in DNA chip company Affymetrix's (Santa Clara, CA) patent infringement cases against database provider Incyte (Palo Alto, CA) and genomic-based biopharmaceutical company Hyseq (Sunnyvale, CA). Incyte and Hyseq allegedly both infringe two patents concerning physical DNA chip apparatus; additionally, Incyte is charged with infringing a fluorescent DNA detection method, while Hyseq is accused of infringing a computer-based system for determining the sequence of a DNA sample. The court did not narrow the claims of the patents—which means they could be deemed invalid if they are found to be too broad. However, general counsel Vern Norviel is confident about their validity, and has asked for an infringement trial as soon as possible; Affymetrix, which controls 90% of the DNA chip market, saw its stock soar nearly 20% to $70 in the week following the Markman ruling. Being found to infringe would be bad news for both Incyte and Hyseq: Incyte's database, which generated over 75% of its 2000 revenue, was built using the technologies in question, and Hyseq already received a $20 million credit line from its CEO George Rathmann on February 8 to combat dwindling cash reserves.