Promega Corp.

Promega Corp. (Promega Corporation) — Founded in 1978 by William A. Linton, who remains chairman and CEO. Headquartered at 2800 Woods Hollow Road, Madison, Wisconsin (some listings show Fitchburg, WI). Privately held and independent; not publicly traded. Reported size is roughly 2,000–2,200 employees globally with annual revenues around $700 million (BizTimes Wisconsin 275 profile; other sources cite ~$450–672M in earlier years). The company operates branches in about 16 countries and sells through distributors in more than 100 countries.

Operations. Promega manufactures enzymes, reagents, assays, and benchtop instruments for molecular biology and life-science research, biopharma QC, and applied testing. Product areas include genomics (restriction/modifying enzymes, polymerases such as the GoTaq family, cloning and amplification reagents), protein analysis and expression (including HaloTag reagents), cellular analysis and reporter/bioluminescence assays, drug-discovery assays, and genetic identity/forensics — where it is one of the two main suppliers of STR-based DNA identification kits (PowerPlex) used in CODIS-type forensic work. It also sells automated nucleic acid purification platforms (Maxwell RSC systems) and provides custom manufacturing and licensing. It holds a substantial patent portfolio (CB Insights cites ~329 filings; a company licensing document cites over 400 active patents).

Litigation posture. This is an operating company, not an NPE. The tracked data show 0 cases as plaintiff and 1 as defendant, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit — consistent with a product company defending an appeal rather than asserting a portfolio. Note, though, that the database is narrow: Promega has historically also litigated as a patent owner (e.g., the Life Technologies dispute), so the single tracked case understates its overall litigation history.

Notable case. The tracked matter is Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. v. Promega Corp. (Fed. Cir.), with Promega as defendant. Promega is best known in patent law as the respondent in Life Technologies Corp. v. Promega Corp., 137 S. Ct. 734 (2017), where the Supreme Court held that supplying a single component from the U.S. for assembly abroad cannot trigger §271(f)(1) liability. That case involved DNA-testing kit patents (including the Tautz reissue patent RE37,984) and reflects Promega's technology focus in genetic identity and amplification.