re: very quiet-kacy Hi Mercer, There is no doubt Applera would...

re: very quiet-kacy Hi Mercer,

There is no doubt Applera would like to kill off gtg's gene patents anyway possible. Some posters think an appeal or an ongoing trial without settlement is a risk. They reckon Applera might use the appeal process to attempt to kill gtg's patents by arguing over prior art or they may just use this as another delaying strategy. IMO this is unlikely for a number of reasons. Firstly, gtg's patents involved here have been granted around the world in over 30 patent offices. They have been the most publicised patents in the field of genetics known. It costs next to nothing to challenge a patent at the patent office. If anyone has any evidence of prior art they certainly would have shown it to the patent office by now to have gtg's patents revoked. Secondly, the judge in this case sees gtg as the good guys and applera as the villan. If applera does not settle, gtg will file for a summary judgement and the judge will oblige by placing a preliminary injunction on applera's commercial use of the IP in gtg's patents. This would effectively wipe out a large portion of applera sales until applera can win the case. The way things drag on in the courts applera would be devastated by this. On the other hand gtg has the best legal eagles in the business fighting for them for free (ie covered by their insurance). It looks to me like applera is wedged between a rock and a hard place and gtg has all the trump cards. So I think it is likely they are hammering out a deal between them but don’t be surprised if this takes a bit longer than expected. Yes, I do believe gtg could announce another deal with another bio any time. Particularly, if the market becomes impatient. They may also release a progress report if no settlement soon. This is just my own opinion based on my own research, I welcome anyone with a sensible counter argument.

Cheers Kacy