W. R. Grace Sues Teledyne For Patent Infringement

W.R. Grace & Co. has sued Teledyne Technologies in federal court for infringing four patents covering flash chromatography, a quick chemical purification process widely used in pharmaceutical research. Grace seeks unspecified damages and an end to the infringement of its patents.

Teledyne Isco is the Teledyne unit that makes flash chromatography systems that compete with those of Grace’s Alltech Associates subsidiary located in Deerfield, Ill. Teledyne, whose Isco unit is based in Lincoln, Neb., did not respond to requests for comment.

According to documents filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Grace’s Alltech unit received four U.S. patents in 2012 covering chemical purification techniques performed with its Reveleris X2 system. After each of the patents was issued, Grace sent a letter notifying its competitor that the Teledyne Combiflash Rf 200i system infringed on the patents.

In the months since Teledyne was notified, Grace charges, Teledyne has continued to infringe on the patents “by making, using, selling, or offering for sale in the U.S.” the Combiflash system.

The Reveleris system, introduced in March 2009, was Grace’s first flash chromatography instrument and “a game changer,” according to Laurie Andriate, general manager of the firm’s discovery sciences group. The instrument, she says, made Grace a contender in a market dominated by Teledyne and Biotage, which offers the Isolara line of flash chromatography instruments.

Before 2009, Grace was known in chromatography circles as a maker of columns and silica packing materials for high-performance liquid and gas chromatography.