A SoftBank-owned company used Theranos patents to sue over COVID-19 tests
The ghost of Theranos is still haunting the biotech industry, even in the middle of a pandemic. A shell company called Labrador Diagnostics LLC, which says it holds the rights to two Theranos patents, sued a company making COVID-19 tests for patent infringement. The lawsuit asked the court to force the company, BioFire, to stop making its tests.
“This could be the most tone-deaf IP suit in history,” tweeted Mark Lemley, director of the Stanford Law School Program in Law, Science and Technology.
Bad: a biotech patent troll
Worse: seeking injunctions even though it’s not in the market
Worse still: using patents it got from Theranos
Worst: trying to shut down is COVID-19 testing.
This could be the most tone-deaf IP suit in history.Labrador Diagnostics v. BioFire (D Del)
— Mark Lemley (@marklemley) March 16, 2020
The shell company is owned by Fortress Investment Group, which bought the Theranos patents in 2018. Fortress Investment Group happens to be backed by SoftBank, which said this fall that it would spend billions to bail out WeWork — before backpedaling on that deal this week.
Soon after TechDirt reported on the lawsuit, though, Labrador Diagnostics LLC said that it would allow third parties to use its patented technology to develop COVID-19 tests — though it’s unclear how valid its claims would have been. “Labrador wants to make clear that the lawsuit was not directed to testing for COVID-19. The lawsuit focuses on activities over the past six years that are not in any way related to COVID-19 testing,” the company wrote in a press release.
This isn’t the only unscrupulous legal action taken against people trying to fight back the novel coronavirus pandemic. Two Italian startup employees used their 3D printer to make valves for ventilators used to treat COVID-19 patients in a hard-hit Italian hospital, and the medical device company that normally sells the valves for $11,000 threatened to sue them.
Over 200,000 people have been sickened with COVID-19 worldwide, and over 8,000 people have died. Italy has the highest number of confirmed infections outside of China, and the US has struggled to ramp up testing to meet the increasing demand.
The ghost of Theranos is still haunting the biotech industry, even in the middle of a pandemic. A shell company called Labrador Diagnostics LLC, which says it holds the rights to two Theranos patents, sued a company making COVID-19 tests for patent infringement. The lawsuit asked the court to force…
