Ilumina Cambridge Limited v Latvia MGI Tech SIA and others, High Court of England and Wales, 20 January 2021, [2021] EWHC 57 (Pat)

This was a substantial patent dispute which spanned 12 days in court and involved infringement and validity of 5 patents. The patentee, Illumina, held patents relating to DNA sequencing technology and MGI was alleged to infringe those patents with its own DNA sequencing systems.

There was a priority attack, allegations of added matter on amended patent claims, as well as attacks on the basis of lack of inventive step and insufficiency. It is no wonder then that the judgment of Mr Justice Birss in this case ran to over 100 pages and covers some interesting aspects of patent practice and law.

The case was an overall win for Illumina who maintained 4 of their 5 patents (3 with amended claims). These were each infringed by at least one of the systems which MGI used. A summary of key takeaway points is below. However, to assist in this we first take a short canter through the science relevant to this case.

The entire summary can be read here.
A copy of judgment can be read here.

Headnote and summary: Katie Cambrook, Bristows LLP