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 March 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 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 appealed the grant of summary judgment to the Court of Appeals on June 8, 2023. The appeal is pending, with oral argument expected in the second half of 2024. Second, the Court denied Spectrum’s motion to supplement 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. On February 7, 2024, the PTO issued a Final Written Decision regarding the second patent in the litigation, holding that claims 1, 3-8, 11 and 12 of U.S. Patent No. 11,002,646 B2 are unpatentable. On March 8, 2024, the Company filed a Request for Rehearing by the Director of the PTO of the Final Written Decision. On March 27, 2024, the Company's Request for Rehearing was denied. The Company is considering its appellate options. On September 15, 2023, Spectrum filed a separate petition for inter partes review of a third patent, which DNAG did not assert in the District Court. On March 26, 2024, the PTO issued a Decision Granting Institution of Inter Partes Review and scheduled oral argument for January 14, 2025.
Item 1A. RISK FACTORS
There have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in Item 1A, entitled “Risk Factors,” in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.
22
Table of Contents
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.