In response to the ruling of the Patents Court within the High Court of Justice for England & Wales on 20 January 2021, MGI makes the following statement:

We concur with the court's ruling that Illumina’s European Patent (EP) 1 828 412 to methods of sequencing by synthesis using ascorbic acid is invalid for obviousness and that MGI’s CoolMPS sequencing method does NOT infringe this patent, and also the finding that MGI’s CoolMPS sequencing does NOT infringe the EP 2 021 415 to a linker and rhodamine dye combination.

However, we are disappointed with the rulings on other mentioned patents. We continue to firmly believe that these patents are invalid and/or not infringed by MGI’s proprietary CoolMPS and StandMPS technologies and will immediately seek permission to appeal the decision.

MGI advocates fair competition and an open environment for innovation and opposes the abuse of patent litigation to maintain market monopoly and suppress industry development. In particular at this critical moment in the worldwide efforts to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, we will do our utmost to protect our rights and interests, as well as the interests of our customers, research collaborators and business partners. We have already initiated legal proceedings in other regions including the recent antitrust violation complaint towards Illumina in the United States. The complaint pleads many instances of anticompetitive behavior including asserting at least three patents against MGI companies in an unlawful and fraudulent manner. 

It should be noted that our advanced laboratory automation equipment is not affected by this lawsuit in any way and will continue to be used to support the prevention and control of the epidemic in the United Kingdom and to assist relevant local organizations to improve the efficiency of COVID-19 nucleic acid testing.

If there is any material development about the related matters, MGI will make further statement as circumstances necessitate.