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 Biosciences
Nicole
Litchfield, 415-793-6468
nicole@bioscribe.com
or
Investors:
Pacific
Biosciences
Ben Gong, 650-521-8450
ir@pacificbiosciences.com
Source: Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc.
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