In November 2011, the Court’s ruling on Summary Judgment affirmed the validity of Promega’s STR patents, and found direct infringement by Life Technologies due to its sale of STR kits. After the trial in February 2012, a jury awarded $52 million in damages to Promega, and found the infringing sales were made willfully by Life Technologies. The Court today held that, in spite of the jury’s verdict, Promega had not sufficiently proven certain elements of its damages claim against Life Technologies. The Court, however, did not overrule the holding by the jury that Life Technologies’ actions were willfully undertaken and might thereby be subject to trebling, and did not overrule the Court’s prior findings that Life Technologies’ sales in clinical and research applications infringed Promega’s patents. The Court dismissed all of Life Technologies’ remaining defenses and claims against Promega.

“Nothing about today’s ruling affects Promega’s long and continuing commitment to provide high quality products and support to the life sciences market, including STR products for use in all applications. Nor does it impact our intent to continue to enforce our STR patents against those who illegally sell STR products to clinical and research customers,” says Bill Linton, Promega CEO. “While we are disappointed with the Court’s decision today, we are considering all available options to continue to pursue what we believe are valid claims against Life Technologies’ actions in the STR market. In spite of this ruling, we remain encouraged that a jury of citizens found in our favor earlier this year.”

This ruling leaves significant issues unresolved, including, but not limited to, enjoining further infringing sales of STR products by Life Technologies in the United States and remedying damages suffered by Promega for past and potentially continuing infringing sales in the United States.

Additional product information on Promega STR analysis products is located at: http://www.promega.com/products/str-analysis/.

Promega’s pioneering STR technology is used worldwide in a number of applications for genetic analysis beyond forensics and paternity testing, including genetic research, cell line authentication, bone marrow transplantation monitoring, forensic training, and various types of cancer analysis.

About Promega

Promega Corporation is a leader in providing innovative solutions and technical support to the life sciences industry. The company’s 2,000 products enable scientists worldwide to advance their knowledge in genomics, proteomics, cellular analysis, molecular diagnostics and human identification. Founded in 1978, the company is headquartered in Madison, WI, USA with branches in 15 countries and over 50 global distributors. For more information about Promega, visit www.promega.com.