Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 17 December 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5448, pp. 2251 - 2253
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5448.2251b
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

News of the Week

PCR:
Taq Polymerase Patent Ruled Invalid

Robert F. Service

Seven years ago the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche sued Promega Corp., a small biochemicals supplier based in Madison, Wisconsin, for infringing a Roche patent on Taq polymerase, a crucial element of the standard technique used to replicate snippets of DNA. Last week a federal judge in San Francisco, California, ruled that the contested patent is invalid because its original holder, the now defunct Cetus Corp., obtained it by deliberately misleading the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The ruling means that, for now, Promega can continue to sell Taq without paying royalties to Roche.

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)