Illumina is back in court. Albeit, this time the San Francisco-based company is on the other side of litigation. A patent infringement lawsuit was filed against Illumina by Complete Genomics, a U.S. subsidiary of MGI.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of the State of Delaware.  And yes, before we continue it should be noted that MGI is a sequencing equipment business subsidiary of BGI Group. Earlier this month, Illumina filed a patent lawsuit against BGI.

Complete Genomics’ lawsuit alleges that a number of genetic sequencers and related reagents from Illumina, including the NovaSeq 6000, NextSeq series, and MiniSeq, are infringing Complete Genomics' U.S. Patent No. 9,222,132 ("132 Patent").

The patent covers proprietary two-color sequencing technology. Two-color sequencing technology is one of the core technologies for high-throughput, high-quality sequencing and a key technology in the DNBSEQ sequencing technology invented by Complete Genomics.

“With our long-term investments, we have already established a patent portfolio in the field of gene sequencing, which is one of the core assets of MGI,” said Wei Wei, Vice President and General Counsel of BGI Group. “Protecting intellectual property rights is an important foundation for us to continue to develop in the field of gene sequencing and to provide the industry with the core tools for life science and technology. We are confident in the value and strength of the patent portfolio of MGI. When necessary, we will protect our intellectual property rights worldwide. The current lawsuit demonstrates the serious attitude and firm confidence of MGI in protecting its intellectual property rights."