Genus suffers legal setback Stateside

Genus suffered a legal setback Stateside as a US judge handed down a series of verdicts against the animal genetics specialist.

The US District Court for Wisconsin ruled that two of Genus rival ST´s patents were valid and had been infringed and that ABS, a unit of Genus, had materially broken its confidentiality obligations as set out in the 2012 semen sorting agreement between the two parties.

The rulings were linked to Genus´s ABS unit´s GSS technology for sexing bovine semen that does not subject the sperm cells to high pressures and forces.

UK-based Genus said it was still awaiting the judge´s decisión on a number of motions related to the provisions of the 2012 agreement and that it would update the market further when the rulings were made.

A verdict on the damages related to those matters would be considered by the jury later this week, Genus said in a statement.