Jury invalidates PacBio’s patents in U.S. patent trial against Oxford Nanopore

After more than one week of evidence, a federal jury in Delaware found in favour of Oxford Nanopore and invalidated all four patents asserted by Pacific Biosciences ("PacBio") in this litigation.

During the trial, the jury heard evidence that PacBio had never performed nanopore sequencing, before or after they filed patents that allegedly cover nanopore sequencing.  Despite all of the early work by the established innovators of nanopore sequencing such as David Deamer, Dan Branton, George Church, Hagan Bayley and Mark Akeson, as well as Oxford Nanopore’s extensive in-house innovation since 2005, PacBio wrongly claimed it was one of the key innovators of the technology.

This outcome follows positive outcomes for Oxford Nanopore in previous proceedings: a summary determination of noninfringement  by the U.S. International Trade Commission,  and invalidation of one of PacBio’s asserted patents by the European Patent Office.

Dr Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore, said:  “We are pleased that the jury recognized that it is Oxford Nanopore, with the help of our collaborators across the globe and as part of the thriving nanopore community of users, who are the true innovators in the field of nanopore sequencing.”

Dr. Sanghera added “This was the latest in a long line of nefarious attempts to exclude Oxford Nanopore from the market.  We will continue to deliver innovative sequencing technology to our customers, who are using the technology to make a profound, positive impact on society.  We will continue to fight attempts to ‘tangle up’ our innovation.”