A scientist works with samples taken for research at a lab.
Feb 19 (Reuters) – The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has sued diagnostics company Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. (BIO.N) for allegedly misusing the school’s patented technology used for analyzing biological samples.
Caltech’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, centers on Bio-Rad’s Droplet platform, which the university contends incorporates its technology for improving medical diagnostics by tagging analysis targets in biological samples with different colors.
The school is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a court order to prevent Bio-Rad from further infringing its patent. This case adds to the growing number of patent infringement lawsuits between diagnostics companies over gene-analysis technology.
Spokespeople for Bio-Rad did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Caltech declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
The Pasadena, California-based university stated that its researchers created technology that revolutionized “multiplexing,” a method for analyzing biological samples using colored “fluorophores.”
The lawsuit claims that Bio-Rad, headquartered in Hercules, California, incorporated Caltech’s enhanced multiplexing technology into its QX600 and QX ONE systems — employed in cancer research, gene therapy, food and wastewater testing, and other applications — without authorization.
Caltech also noted that Bio-Rad is involved in separate related patent litigation with ChromaCode, a molecular diagnostics startup founded by Caltech researchers.
The case is California Institute of Technology v. Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 5:25-cv-01701.
For Caltech: Bradley Graveline, Martin Bader and Jesse Salen of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton. For Bio-Rad: attorney information not yet available.
