U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Court Upholds Celsis IVT Injunction Against Life Technologies Corporation in LiverPool™ Patent Infringement Lawsuit

Federal Circuit affirms importance of investment in drug research and development Celsis In Vitro, Inc. (Celsis IVT) announced today that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. upheld a preliminary injunction against Life Technologies Corporation's infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,604,929 (the LiverPool™ patent). Life Technologies LIFE is the parent corporation of the named co-defendants, Invitrogen Corporation and CellzDirect LLC (collectively, LTC). The LiverPool patent relates to methods for producing multi-cryopreserved hepatocytes. In a precedential opinion authored by Chief Judge Randall R. Rader, the Federal Circuit found no reversible error in the preliminary injunction issued by Judge Milton I. Shadur, who presides in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. The Federal Circuit concluded that Celsis IVT had sufficiently satisfied each of the four factors for establishing a preliminary injunction. Notably, the Federal Circuit affirmed that Celsis IVT properly demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success of infringement by LTC's confidential standard process and that Celsis IVT had successfully defeated LTC's attempted invalidity challenge due to obviousness. The Court also confirmed that Celsis IVT “would suffer irreparable harm absent a preliminary injunction,” and that “the preliminary record suggests LTC's losses were the result of its own calculated risk in selling a product with knowledge of Celsis' patent.” “The public interest favors the enforcement of Celsis' patent rights here…[s]uch investment in drug research and development must be encouraged and protected by the exclusionary rights conveyed in valid patents.” “We are pleased that the Federal Circuit has re-affirmed our LiverPool patent rights,” said Jay LeCoque, CEO of Celsis International. “This precedential decision confirms our decade-long investment in research and development in technologies supporting our LiverPool products—products which are critically important for drug development and research. The entire life science industry secured an important victory today and should be incentivized to continue their diligent efforts to innovate new technologies that improve the quality of human life,” he added.