New England Biolabs Intends to Appeal Court Decision in Lawsuit over Theft of its Trade Secrets

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Oct 02, 2013, 10:29 ET

IPSWICH, Mass., Oct. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- New England Biolabs, Inc. (NEB^®), which filed suit against Enzymatics and three former NEB employees for stealing its intellectual property, intends to appeal today's decision by the Massachusetts Superior Court after the court declined to rule on the merits of the case, because of a technicality about the timing of when the suit was filed.

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Commenting on the court's decision, James Ellard, Chief Executive Officer of NEB, issued the following statement:

"New England Biolabs filed suit in 2011 against Enzymatics and three former NEB employees, alleging the theft of proprietary information of significant scientific and commercial value. NEB believes and has provided extensive proof to the court that these once trusted individuals used NEB-owned trade secrets to unethically launch Enzymatics.

The Massachusetts Superior Court has decided not to rule on the matter of the theft. Instead, it set aside NEB's claims, because of a disputable technicality, based on the timing of when the suit was filed. In fact, NEB filed suit immediately upon learning from a 'whistle-blower' and former Enzymatics employee, who participated in establishing the company, that the founders of Enzymatics had stolen and utilized NEB's confidential and proprietary information.

This ruling, in our judgment, resolves nothing. It does not exonerate the defendants who stole trade secrets. It only delays resolution of this matter until an appeals court can review the case.

Consequently, NEB intends to appeal the court's decision, confident that a higher court will acknowledge that the defendants should not be rewarded for successfully concealing their theft of company assets. They remain culpable."

New England Biolabs is a world leader in the development and production of reagents for the Life Science industry. The company has a long history of integrity and transparency, and will continue to compete honorably, supporting its customers with the industry-leading standards to which they have become accustomed.

About New England Biolabs

Established in 1974, New England Biolabs, Inc. is the industry leader in the discovery and production of enzymes for molecular biology applications and now offers the largest selection of recombinant and native enzymes for genomic research. NEB continues to expand its product offerings into areas related to PCR, gene expression, library preparation for next generation sequencing, cellular analysis, epigenetics and RNA analysis. New England Biolabs is a privately held company, headquartered in Ipswich, MA, and has extensive worldwide distribution through a network of exclusive distributors, agents and seven subsidiaries located in Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the UK. For more information about New England Biolabs visit: www.neb.com.

NEB is a registered trademark of New England Biolabs, Inc.

SOURCE New England Biolabs, Inc.