Item 1. Legal Proceedings
Item 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
From time to time, the Company is involved in certain legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business. In management’s opinion, based upon the advice of counsel, the outcomes of such actions are not expected, individually or in the aggregate, to have a material adverse effect on the Company's future financial position or results of operations.
Spectrum Patent Litigation
In June 2021, the Company filed a complaint against Spectrum Solutions, LLC ("Spectrum") in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California alleging that certain saliva collection devices manufactured and sold by Spectrum infringe a patent held by DNAG. Spectrum has filed an answer to the initial complaint, asserting that its device does not infringe the Company's patent and that the Company's patent is invalid. In August 2021, the Company amended its complaint to add a second patent to this litigation. Spectrum responded to the Company's amended complaint and asserted counterclaims for inequitable conduct and antitrust violations with respect to one of the patents in the litigation and subsequently filed a request for review of the second patent at the Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO"), which was granted by the PTO. The District Court issued multiple pretrial orders, resolving the infringement, antitrust, and inequitable conduct claims without trial. First, the District Court granted Spectrum’s motion for summary judgment of noninfringement, holding that Spectrum’s saliva collection devices are not “kits for collecting and preserving a biological sample,” among other rulings. The Company has appealed the grant of summary judgment to the Court of Appeal on June 8, 2023. Second, the District Court denied Spectrum’s motion to amend its allegations of alleged antitrust violations, finding that if such an amendment were allowed, Spectrum’s claims would not survive a motion for summary judgment. Spectrum thereafter withdrew its antitrust and inequitable conduct counterclaims. Spectrum did not appeal the District Court's denial of its motion to amend. Both parties have filed motions seeking sanctions in the District Court. An inter partes review is currently pending before the PTO regarding the second asserted patent.
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