Defendant
9 cases as defendant.
Company overview. Affymetrix, Inc. was a Santa Clara, California-based genomics and life-sciences tools company founded in 1991–1992 as a unit of Affymax and later taken independent. It listed on Nasdaq (ticker: AFFX) in June 1996 and operated as a public company until Thermo Fisher Scientific acquired it for roughly $1.3 billion (about $14.00/share); the deal closed March 31, 2016, and its products were later folded into Thermo Fisher's Applied Biosystems brand. In its final independent fiscal year (2015) it reported total revenue of about $360 million; public profiles put its headcount anywhere from roughly 700 to 1,150 employees.
Products / operations. Affymetrix was a pioneer of DNA microarray ("gene chip") technology, fabricating high-density oligonucleotide probe arrays using semiconductor photolithography techniques. Its GeneChip system — probe arrays, reagents, fluidics and scanning instruments, and analysis software — supported gene-expression analysis, genotyping, and copy-number/cytogenetics work. Later product families included the Axiom genotyping solution, CytoScan and OncoScan clinical/cytogenetic arrays, the GeneTitan and GeneAtlas instruments, the QuantiGene/ViewRNA assay lines, PCR reagents (e.g., ExoSAP-IT), and, after its 2012 eBioscience acquisition, flow-cytometry antibodies and immunoassay reagents. Customers included pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostic, and agricultural companies plus academic and government labs.
Patent-litigation posture. Affymetrix was a classic operating company — a pioneer and leading seller of microarray systems that also aggressively built and enforced its own IP. The tracked docket shows active two-way litigation: one suit as plaintiff (N.D. California) and one as defendant (D. Delaware), both filed within two weeks of each other in June 1999. The venues (N.D. Cal. and D. Del.) are standard corporate/research hubs, not plaintiff-friendly outliers like the Eastern District of Texas.
Notable cases. The two tracked suits are opposite sides of a single transatlantic dispute with Oxford Gene Technology Ltd. (OGT), the UK licensor of DNA-array patents based on Oxford professor Edwin Southern's work. OGT accused Affymetrix's GeneChip products of infringing U.S. Patent 5,700,637, while Affymetrix claimed rights through its purchase of Beckman Coulter's microarray business and separately sued OGT. A Delaware jury found infringement in 2000; the companies settled in March 2001, with Affymetrix recording roughly a $19 million charge.
Illumina filed a declaratory-judgment action against Affymetrix in the Western District of Wisconsin; the 3:09-cv-00665 action was consolidated with 3:09-cv-00277-bbc, and the Federal Circuit mandamus order was docketed in both. Whether the '243 patent was pleaded in this DJ action is unverified.
Infringement action by Applera Corporation and Competitive Technologies, Inc. against Affymetrix, Inc. asserting the Caruthers patents, including US 5,153,319. The case was dismissed on September 27, 2001 for lack of subject matter jurisdiction after Affymetrix filed its own action in S.D.N.Y.
OGT sued Affymetrix in the District of Delaware alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 5,700,637 by Affymetrix's GeneChip products. A jury found infringement under the doctrine of equivalents and found a license as of June 1, 1999; the parties reached a global settlement in March 2001.
Hyseq sued Affymetrix in N.D. Cal. asserting Hyseq patents 5,202,231 and 5,525,464 initially; BioCentury later reports 5,695,940 across two 1997 suits. The action settled and was dismissed with prejudice as part of the global Hyseq/Affymetrix settlement. The narrative states 5,492,806 was not confirmed as asserted.
Hyseq filed a patent infringement complaint against Affymetrix in the Northern District of California on March 4, 1997, asserting Hyseq's sequencing-by-hybridization patents in the Drmanac/Crkvenjakov family. The dispute was settled in October 2001; the narrative states that assertion of US 6,018,041 specifically was not confirmed.
Incyte-initiated declaratory-judgment action relating to the Affymetrix patent litigation, resolved as part of the same December 21, 2001 global settlement as the Affymetrix v. Synteni/Incyte cases.
Incyte Genomics sued Affymetrix in N.D. Cal.; the case was settled on December 21, 2001 as part of the global Affymetrix–Incyte settlement. The narrative does not specify which patents were asserted in this case.
Incyte Genomics, Inc. sued Affymetrix, Inc. in the Northern District of California, asserting U.S. 5,716,785 and U.S. 5,891,636; Affymetrix counterasserted U.S. 5,871,928 and U.S. 6,040,193. The related N.D. Cal. cases settled on December 21, 2001, with all claims, defenses, and counterclaims dismissed with prejudice and cross licenses granted.
BioCentury reported that PE Biosystems sued Affymetrix in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging infringement of US 4,458,066; 4,500,707; 5,132,418; 5,153,319; and 4,973,679. The case number and outcome were not confirmed.