In November 18, 2005, The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit made a ruling on the appeal of Invitrogen Corporation (Invitrogen) vs. Clontech Laboratories Inc. (Clontech), a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc. (Otsu, Japan), which vacated a decision of invalidity on summary judgment, affirmed other determinations by the US District Court for the District of Maryland, and remanded for further proceedings.

Invitrogen sued Clontech on December 1996 for alleged infringement of Invitrogen's (former Life Technologies Co.) US patents with respect to mutant reverse transcriptase. Clontech responded by asserting non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability of Invitrogen's patent, based in part on its contention that Dr. Goff and Dr. Tanese at Colombia University conceived and reduced to practice the invention earlier than Invitrogen. On September 17, 2003, Invitrogen filed a consent to judgment of invalidity. In October 2003, The US District Court entered final judgment based upon Invitrogen's consent to judgment. Both parties appealed.

As the opinion made by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is not a final judgment, Takara and Clontech will continue to defend against the allegations made by Invitrogen. Takara and Clontech believe they continue to have strong defenses regarding invalidity of the patents-in-suit and that they will prevail at trial in invalidating the asserted patents.

This lawsuit has been public prior to Takara's acquisition of Clontech Laboratories Inc. from BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). BD remains involved in the litigation.

Takara Bio Inc. is a biotechnology oriented company committed to improving the human condition by focusing on three major biotechnology-related fields; basic research, agriculture and medicine.

Clontech Laboratories, Inc. develops, produces, and markets innovative biological products to the life science market worldwide. Clontech is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takara Bio, Inc.

About Takara Bio Inc.
Takara Bio Inc. is an innovative biotechnology company based in Shiga, Japan. As a world leader in biotechnology research and development, Takara Bio was the first company to market PCR technology in Japan and is also the developer of the RetroNectin^® reagent, which is a world-standard in gene therapy protocols. In addition to providing research reagents and equipment to the life science research market, Takara Bio has active research and product development activities in the fields of gene and cell-based therapy, and agricultural biotechnology; and is committed preventing disease and improving the quality of life for all people through the use of biotechnology. Through strategic alliances with other industry leaders, the Company aims to extend its reach around the world. More information is available at http://www.takara-bio.com.

For more information:
Corporate Communications
Takara Bio Inc.
E-mail: bio-ir@takara-bio.co.jp

This article is translated from press release in Japanese for your convenience.

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