NEW YORK – Bio-Techne said on Monday that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United Kingdom against Molecular Instruments.
The suit involves two patents related to Bio-Techne subsidiary Advanced Cell Diagnostics' RNAscope in situ hybridization technology, claiming that Molecular Instruments' HCR 3.0 technology infringes patents 2,500,439 and 1,910,572. The patents cover methods of detecting multiple nucleic acid targets in single cells through indirect capture of labels to the nucleic acids, methods of assaying the relative levels of nucleic acid targets through normalization to levels of reference nucleic acids, and methods of detecting individual cells, particularly rare cells from large heterogeneous cell populations, through detection of nucleic acids.
The firm is seeking damages and injunctive relief requiring Molecular Instruments to stop infringing Bio-Techne's patents in the UK, Bio-Techne said in a statement.
The RNAscope technology enables RNA target expression analysis within intact cells and tissues with high sensitivity and specificity, according to Bio-Techne's website.
"Bio-Techne has made substantial investments in the development and application of its RNAscope technology to advance research discovery and accelerate diagnostic and therapeutic product development," Chuck Kummeth, Bio-Techne's president and CEO, said in a statement. "Our intellectual property portfolio is foundational to our innovation in the spatial biology detection space, and we are committed to protecting these investments and defending our intellectual property rights."