Get it down in writing

An Enzo Biochem patent is invalid because of the lack of a written description of the claimed invention, according to a judgment ruling of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The patent covers nucleic-acid probes for the detection of the bacteria that cause gonorrhea. In defining the invention, Enzo had made a deposit of a biological sample and referred to that sample, in combination with defining the function of the invention, in reference to the relative affinity of the probes for different strains of specified bacteria in a hybridization assay. In a two-to-one decision, the Court considered the functional description as inadequate. The decision signals that a functional definition of subject matter is not good enough, and implies that genetic discoveries must refer to specific sequences, which will result in them being more narrowly defined. Enzo intends to seek a rehearing before the full Court of Appeals. WEB SITES United States patent database Lo, A. US patent 4,900,659

EPO upholds novelty of roche PCR patents

'Prior art' does not deprive Roche's polymerase chain reaction (PCR) patents of novelty or inventiveness, according to the Technical Board of Appeals of the European Patent Office (EPO). The central issue of the appeal hearing, which was prompted by submissions from several opponents, was whether previous, related publications — otherwise known as prior art — deprived the patents of novelty or inventiveness. Prior art was also the subject of earlier US litigation and re-examination proceedings about the US counterparts to these European patents. One patent covers the exponential amplification of a target nucleic acid, whereas the other governs the detection of the target nucleic acid once it is exponentially amplified. The April 2002 ruling is the final determination of the EPO and cannot be appealed. Roche is now asserting US counterparts to the European PCR patents in a lawsuit against Promega Corporation. Roche claims that Promega has infringed two patents as well as another for Taq DNA polymerase, an enzyme that is used principally for PCR. WEB SITES European patent database Mullis, K .B. EP Patent 201,184 Horn, G. T. et al. EP Patent 200,362 United States patent database Gelfand, D. H. et al. US Patent 4,889,818 Mullis, K. B. US Patent 4,683,195 Mullis, K. B. US Patent 4,683,202

Caliper tries to block sales of molecular devices' IMAP products

Caliper Technologies Corporation has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Molecular Devices Corporation, in which it alleges that Molecular Devices' IMAP assay products infringe one of Caliper's patents. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The Caliper patent covers methods and systems for carrying out a wide variety of high-throughput microfluidic assays. IMAP technology uses the specific binding of trivalent metal ions to phosphate groups and optical detection methods for high-throughput screening of phosphodiesterases, kinases and phosphatases. Caliper is seeking an injunction against future sales of the Molecular Devices IMAP products and damages for past sales. WEB SITES European patent database Lovegren, K. I. EP Patent 247,983 United States patent database Nikiforov, T. T. US Patent 6,287,774