Benzinga | Jan 20, 2021 04:05PM EST

Illumina Wins Patent Infringement Suit Against BGI In The UK

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) today announced that the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court, issued a judgment in its favor in the patent infringement suit filed against the BGI Companies, MGI Tech Co. Ltd; Latvia MGI SIA; MGI International Sales Co., Ltd; and BGI Complete Genomics Hong Kong Co., Ltd.

The Court found that four of the five asserted patents were valid and infringed by BGI. The Court ruled that BGI's StandardMPS and CoolMPS systems infringe EP 1 530 537 B1, EP 3 002 289 B1, and EP 3 587 433 B1, and that StandardMPS also infringes EP 2 021 415 B1. These patents cover different aspects of Illumina's proprietary sequencing-by-synthesis chemistry, including its azidomethyl reversible terminator and labelled nucleotides.

The Court had previously issued a preliminary injunction against BGI's UK-based sequencing laboratory and restricted BGI's ability to supply the infringing sequencing systems in the UK. Illumina intends to seek a permanent injunction fully prohibiting the supply or sale of BGI's StandardMPS and CoolMPS systems in the UK until the relevant patents expire.

"We are pleased with the Court's decision. This adds to the growing list of courts around the world finding that BGI has misappropriated Illumina's proprietary, groundbreaking technology," said Charles Dadswell, SVP and General Counsel for Illumina. "We will continue to vigorously protect our intellectual property from BGI's willful infringement."