Promega v. Roche
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich revokes Roche's biotechnology patent '017, which covers components critical to DNA analysis used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gene sequencing, Promega announces May 31. Madison, Wisconsin-based firm, along with BD Corp., New England BioLabs and Bioline, presented data to EPO showing that others had purified the Taq DNA polymerase first and that the recombinant Taq gene was obviously based on prior art. EPO's decision to revoke the patent is consistent with 1999 San Francisco federal court ruling that Roche committed eight separate acts of fraud in obtaining its '818 patent (1"The Gray Sheet" Dec. 13, 1999, p. 16)