BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Markman ruling in Caliper-Aclara suit

July 19, 2000 7:00 AM UTC

CALP said the U.S. District for the Northern District of California invalidated eight of 11 claims in ACLA's U.S. Patent No. 5,750,015, which covers methods and devices for moving molecules via the application of electric fields. ACLA had filed suit in 1999 alleging that CALP infringed ACLA's '015 patent (see BioCentury, May 3, 1999). CALP said that as a result of a Markman hearing, the court also stated that the term "trench" used in the patent is limited to an "uncovered structure such as a ditch," and ruled that the claims require that electrodes used to move materials be "positioned along the axis of the trenches," rejecting ACLA's contention that the claims covered devices in which electrodes are placed only at opposite ends of the trenches. CALP's LabChip products employ enclosed, sealed tunnels with electrodes placed in reservoirs at opposite ends of the tunnels, CALP said. ...