Microbix Biosystems (TSX:MBX) announced the withdrawal of legal claims, alleging patent infringement, that were filed in Canadian Federal Court against Microbix by ZeptoMetrix in October 2016.
The allegations by ZeptoMetrix have been withdrawn, following a settlement reached by the two companies. The withdrawal of the lawsuit is “with prejudice” and cannot be reasserted in Federal Court by ZeptoMetrix in the future.
“This was an unfortunate matter that we are glad to put behind us,” Cameron Groome, president and CEO of Microbix, said in a statement.
“We respect other parties’ intellectual property and are pleased to end this dispute. Customers can now freely decide between the value propositions of each company’s products,” he added.
The lawsuit involved a patent with claims related to methods for the production of proficiency and quality assurance antigen controls that support diagnostic tests based on the nucleic acid makeup of pathogens.
These molecular, or DNA, diagnostics are the fastest growing segment of the testing industry, and supplying controls for molecular diagnostics controls is an important emerging market opportunity for Microbix, which is developing its product line under the brand name, REDx Controls.
