Innogenetics announced that the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin entered a permanent injunction against Abbott Laboratories, enjoining Abbott from any further sales or use of products, including components, that infringe on Innogenetics' patented Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) genotyping technology.

The court's injunction also prohibits Abbott from exporting components of the infringing products to foreign countries, an Innogenetics press release stated.

In September 2006 a jury unanimously found that Abbott had wilfully infringed Innogenetics' US patent No. 5,846,704 ("the '704 patent"), covering a method of genotyping HCV, and awarded Innogenetics $7 million in damages.

The latest ruling came at the close of an evidentiary hearing to determine the potential public impact of a permanent injunction against Abbott. At the hearing, the court reiterated its finding last week that Innogenetics suffered irreparable harm from Abbott's infringement. The court further found that Innogenetics has the capacity to serve the needs of the Hepatitis C diagnostic market and that Innogenetics had taken all reasonable steps to comply with Good Manufacturing Procedures set out by the FDA.

"This case is a clear example of why patent protections exist. Small, forward-looking companies must be able to protect their innovations from misappropriation by larger more powerful competitors," said Frank Morich, CEO of Innogenetics. "I hope that Abbott has learned through this process that other people's intellectual property can not be ignored in the pursuit of profit."

In September 2005, Innogenetics sued Abbott Laboratories alleging that Abbott was infringing the company's '704 patent, which covers a method of genotyping the Hepatitis C Virus. The court found the patent was infringed as a matter of law. On September 1, 2006, a jury returned a unanimous verdict for Innogenetics that the '704 patent was valid in all respects. On September 8, 2006, the same jury unanimously found that Abbott's actions had been wilful, and directed Abbott to pay Innogenetics $7 million in damages related to the infringement up to the time of the trial. On January 4, 2007, the judge in this case dismissed Abbott's requests for a new trial, affirmed the jury's finding that Abbott infringed the patent, that the patent was valid in all respects and approved the award of $7 million in damages. The judge overturned the jury's unanimous finding that Abbott's infringement had been wilful. Today's evidentiary hearing was to determine whether or not Abbott should be permanently enjoined from selling products that infringe Innogenetics' patent.

Innogenetics is currently evaluating the total case and its legal options including an appeal on wilfulness.