US Courtroom Grants MGI’s Movement to Amend in Swimsuit Towards Illumina

By On Feb 23, 2021

SAN FRANCISCO, February 23, 2021 / PRNewswire / – A US District Court judge for the Northern District of California granted MGI’s request for amendment to add a new lawsuit against the patent infringement suit against injustices against MGI February 2020 (Case No. 20-cv-01465).

During that patent prosecution, MGI alleges Illumina intentionally withheld or not disclosed a reference to a paper by Terez Kovacs and Laszlo Otvos (“Kovacs”)[1]. MGI claims that the Kovacs reference is essential both because it discloses the same methodology that two of the inventors of the 7,541,444 patent used to convert nucleosides to nucleotides and because it provides motivation to one of ordinary skill in the art (“POSITA”) “) to convert nucleosides into nucleotides.

The Court’s decision concludes that MGI has acted with reasonable care, that a change would not unduly harm Illumina, and that MGI’s proposed right to wrongful conduct is not clearly pointless under the relevant briefing standards. Accordingly, MGI’s request for a change is granted.

MGI has already filed an antitrust complaint against Illumina The United States in the Jan 2021. The recent complaint filed in California federal court relies on many cases of anticompetitive behavior, including the illegal and fraudulent assertions of at least three patents against MGI companies.

About MGI

MGI Tech Co., Ltd. (MGI), a subsidiary of the BGI Group, is committed to enabling effective and affordable health solutions for everyone. Based on its proprietary technology, MGI manufactures sequencing equipment, devices, consumables, and reagents to support life science research, medicine, and healthcare. MGI’s multi-omics platforms include genetic sequencing and medical imaging. The mission is to provide comprehensive, real-time, lifelong solutions and to develop and promote advanced life science tools for future healthcare. You can find more information at https://en.mgi-tech.com. Or connect via social media: https://twitter.com/MGI_BGI or https://cn.linkedin.com/company/mgi-bgi.

[1] The paper entitled “Simple Synthesis of 5-Vinyl- and 5-Ethynyl-2′-Deoxyuridine-5′-Triphosphates” was published in Tetrahedron Letters, Vol. 3, No. 29, pp. 4525-4528, 1988.

SOURCE MGI Tech Co., Ltd.