Third Wave/Stratagene resolve patent litigation

US firms Third Wave Technologies and Stratagene Corp have reached an out-of-court settlement regarding the matter litigated in US District Court in Wisconsin in September 2005 and appealed to the Federal Circuit in Washington DC.

Stratagene has agreed to pay Third Wave $10.75 million in cash as full satisfaction for the judgment. The companies said they would stay any further litigation for nine months. The companies have also agreed to a process to resolve that case or any other disputes through an accord that enables either firm to elect to arbitrate a patent dispute or to resolve it through a royalty-bearing license.

Joseph Sorge, chief executive of Stratagene, said: "with this settlement, we will be able to redeem our $21.0 million appeal bond and strengthen our balance sheet by $10.25 million. In addition, the resolution of this issue will also enable our management team to focus more resources on executing our long-term growth strategy in molecular diagnostics, including the pursuit of additional partnerships and product development opportunities."