Cellex drops patent case over Siemens COVID-19 tests - Reuters

Siemens logo is pictured at Siemens Healthineers headquarters in Erlangen near Nuremberg, Germany. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

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• Lawsuit said Siemens COVID-19 tests violate a Cellex design patent
• Cellex dismissed its own case less than a week later, but could re-file

(Reuters) - North Carolina biotech company Cellex Inc has dropped a patent lawsuit against Siemens Healthineers AG over the design of its rapid COVID-19 self-tests less than a week after bringing the case in Delaware, according to a court filing.

Cellex told the Delaware federal court Thursday that it would dismiss the case without prejudice, which means it could be refiled in Delaware or elsewhere.

The filing did not provide further details, and the companies and Cellex's attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

Cellex sued Siemens last Friday, arguing the German company's Clinitest-brand tests have a deceptively similar design to Cellex's rapid COVID-19 antibody tests.

Design patents protect an object's visual features, while more-common utility patents protect how an invention works and is used. Cellex received a design patent in December covering its version of the device used in many rapid COVID-19 tests to collect samples and display results.

Cellex's website said its test was the first COVID-19 antibody test to receive emergency-use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The company had asked the court for an unspecified amount of money damages and an order permanently blocking Siemens from infringing.

Siemens said in May that it expected to earn over 1.3 billion euros in revenue this year from rapid COVID-19 tests, raising its previous forecast of 700 million euros.

Siemens had not yet responded to the claims in court and declined to comment on the case last week.

The case is Cellex Inc v. Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No. 1:22-cv-00998.

For Cellex: Tracy-Gene Durkin and Deirdre Wells of Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox; Larry Millstein of Millen White Zelano & Branigan

For Siemens: not available

Read more:

Siemens sued for patent infringement over COVID-19 test design

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Blake Brittain

Thomson Reuters

Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Reach him at blake.brittain@thomsonreuters.com

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