Sequenom Says Appeals Court Upholds District Court Ruling On '540 Patent

(RTTNews) - Sequenom, Inc. (SQNM) said Friday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld the ruling of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California that the claims of the company's U.S. Patent No. 6,258,540 are not patent eligible under the patent eligibility criteria established by the Supreme Court's Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories decision.

In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge Richard Linn wrote that he joined the decision "only because I am bound by the sweeping language of the test set out in Mayo…." He concluded that, but for that language, "I see no reason, in policy or statute, why this breakthrough invention [as claimed in the '540 Patent] should be deemed patent ineligible."

The company believes that the ruling has little business impact, as it has been operating under the District Court's invalidity ruling since October 2013, and due to the pooling arrangement of NIPT intellectual property entered into with Illumina, Inc. in December 2014. In addition, valid and enforceable patents with claims equivalent to those of the '540 Patent are issued in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia.

The company said that it is considering its options for further appeal.