The Patents Court of the High Court of England and Wales has ordered that two patents owned by Bio-Techne brand Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) be revoked and has dismissed ACD's infringement claims against Molecular Instruments. Furthermore, the court has ordered ACD to pay costs in the amount of 1.35 million pounds (approximately $1.72 million) to Molecular Instruments.
In a ruling in April, the U.K. court rejected the validity of the two patents -- European patents (U.K.) 2,500,439 and 1,910,572 -- that were at the heart of ACD's 2022 infringement lawsuit. ACD claimed that the in situ hybridization technology used in Molecular Instruments' HCR RNA-ISH technology infringed on these two patents, which the firm said were integral to Bio-Techne's RNAscope in situ hybridization technology.
Bio-Techne/ACD has a pending infringement suit against Molecular Instruments concerning the two patents in the pan-European Unified Patent Court. The suit was filed in April.
