Breaking: UPC hits NanoString with European sales ban

The Unified Patent Court granted US biotech company 10x Genomics a preliminary injunction against rival NanoString today, September 19, in a major first for the new court.

Presiding Judge Matthias Zigann, who handed down the order, said the UPC would decide on another PI request on October 10.

It was initially expected that there would be a decision on both applications today.

NanoString can challenge today’s decision at the UPC Court of Appeal in Luxembourg.

The order marks the first time the UPC has issued a PI after hearing oral arguments between both parties in a dispute since the court started hearing cases in June.

The UPC previously issued an ex parte injunction in a dispute between Swiss bike manufacturers myStromer and Revolt Zycling.

Today’s order comes after a hearing at the Munich local division on September 6. Sources who attended that hearing had told Managing IP that an injunction was likely.

One of 10x’s lawyers, Bardehle Pagenberg partner Tilman Müller-Stoy, described the judges as among the best-prepared he had seen in his career after the hearing.

Zigann heard the case alongside three other judges – Tobias Pichlmaier, András Kupecz, and Eric Enderlin.

The PI is the second injunction 10x has obtained from a court in Germany against NanoString so far this year.

The Munich Regional Court issued an anti-anti-suit injunction against NanoString in April, believed to be the first order of its kind in a German life sciences suit.

The order forced NanoString to withdraw an anti-suit injunction it had filed at the US District Court for the District of Delaware.