Enzo Biochem jumps on jury award in patent lawsuit

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Enzo Biochem Inc. jumped Friday after a jury awarded Enzo $48.6 million in a patent infringement lawsuit against Life Technologies Corp.

Enzo said the award covers direct infringement penalties for a patent on compounds used in DNA sequencing systems. The company said it could receive tens of millions more in interest, and it also said the decision could have a positive impact on lawsuits against other companies over other patents, including PerkinElmer Inc. and Affymetrix Inc.

Life Technologies said Thursday that it had received an unfavorable verdict in the lawsuit. It said the ruling won't affect its sales because the relevant patent expired in 2004.

"The company strongly disagrees with the verdict and intends to vigorously challenge it in the trial court and on appeal," the Carlsbad, Calif., company said.

Enzo said it filed a lawsuit in 2004 against Applera Corp. and its Tropix Inc. division. Applera is now a part of Life Technologies. It said it believes sales of the sequencing instruments that infringe on its patent total $770 million, adding that Life Technologies' instruments induced its customers to infringe on the patent.

Shares of the New York biotechnology company rose 45 cents, or 19.6 percent, to $2.75 in afternoon trading.