US Supreme Court rejects Novozymes appeal

Supreme Court refused to take a look at the company’s appeal in a patent case involving its competitor DuPont

The Danish biotech giant Novozymes was met with adversity on the US market on Monday after the US Supreme Court refused to take a look at the company’s appeal in a patent case involving its competitor DuPont.

The case stems from 2009 and revolves around the US authorities rejecting a Novozymes patent extension application for an enzyme variant that is used to produce bioethanol.

Then in the summer of 2013, a US court upheld the earlier decision that the application was imprecise and ruled that it did not live up to US patent standards.

DuPont had applied for a patent in 2006 that overlapped with what Novozymes was seeking to extend a patent on in connection with the production of ethanol from corn.

Initially, a jury at the US District Court awarded 18 million dollars (about 98 million kroner) in damages to Novozymes, before a senior judge overturned the decision.




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