Jury rules that Stratagene must pay $7.8 million for violating Invitrogen's E. coli patent

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, July 26 - Stratagene Corp. said Wednesday that the jury in the case of Invitrogen Corp. versus Stratagene that was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas determined that Invitrogen's 4,981,797 patent is valid and that Stratagene infringed that patent by making and selling its competent E. coli cell products.

The jury decided to award Invitrogen a 15% royalty rate on sales between the years 1997 and 2004, for a total of $7.8 million in damages, and found Stratagene to have willfully infringed the patent only between the years 1997 and 2001, according to a company news release.

The jury found that Invitrogen was not entitled to lost profits because Stratagene has had a non-infringing manufacturing process for competent cells.

Invitrogen had been seeking $32 million in damages based on a lost profits argument. Stratagene has the option to appeal Tuesday's verdict, officials said.

Other details concerning the final judgment to be rendered by the court, including the appropriateness of the damages determined by the jury and the potential for enhanced damages, are being considered by the judge presiding over the case.

The timing of a final judgment has not yet been determined, officials said.

Stratagene said it had previously modified its process for manufacturing competent E. coli cell products and, as a result, Invitrogen has agreed that Stratagene products sold in recent years and currently offered for sale will not be affected by the jury verdict.

The action by Invitrogen was begun in March 2001.

In November 2001, the district court granted Stratagene's motion for summary judgment finding that Invitrogen's aforementioned patent was not infringed by Stratagene.

Upon Invitrogen's appeal, the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's decision in part and remanded the case back to the lower court.

In January 2004, the district court granted partial summary judgment to Invitrogen based on the determination that Stratagene's then-existing manufacturing process infringed Invitrogen's patent; however, the court also determined that Invitrogen's patent was invalid. Stratagene said it then changed its manufacturing process for competent cell products to a non-infringing method.

Invitrogen appealed the decision again and in October 2005 the Federal Circuit Court reversed the district court's findings in part.

The case was remanded back to district court, resulting in the jury's determination handed down on Tuesday, officials said.

Stratagene is a LaJolla, Calif., maker of specialized life science research and diagnostic products.

Invitrogen is a Carlsbad, Calif., maker of life sciences technologies for research, drug discovery and bioproduction.

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