Context: In February 2022, 10x Genomics first sued NanoString (whose assets were acquired by Bruker: May 2024 press release) in the District of Delaware over several spatial profiling-related patents (February 28, 2022 complaint (PDF)). The company then expanded its campaign to Germany, before filing two preliminary injunction (PI) applications and two infringement claims in the Unified Patent Court (UPC), the same day the court opened its doors on June 1, 2023. The case quickly became famous for producing the UPC Court of Appeal’s first-ever decision: one PI application that the Munich Local Division (LD) had initially granted (and which 10x Genomics immediately enforced) was later overturned by the appellate court. The European Patent Office (EPO) upheld the patent-in-suit in a “slightly amended form” (March 20, 2025 ip fray article). Signs of a settlement first emerged between the two parties yesterday, when the UPC calendar stated that an appellate hearing in the case was cancelled (May 13, 2025 ip fray LinkedIn post).
What’s new: 10x Genomics and Bruker have signed a global cross-license agreement (the details of which are confidential), ending all pending litigation in the U.S. (May 13, 2025 order (PDF), Germany, and the UPC (May 14, 2025 Bruker press release).
Direct impact and wider ramifications: In February, Bruker filed a request for damages for 10x Genomics’s wrongful enforcement of the PI. That was due to be heard in September (ip fray LinkedIn post), but the companies’ settlement means the hearing will no longer go ahead.
Six of the patents-in-suit in the U.S. were entitled “Spatially encoded biological assays”:
- U.S. Patent No. 10,472,669
- U.S. Patent No. 10,961,566
- U.S. Patent No. 10,983,113
- U.S. Patent No. 10,996,219
- U.S. Patent No. 11,001,878
- U.S. Patent No. 11,008,607
The seventh patent was:
- U.S. Patent No. 11,293,917 (“Systems for analyzing target biological molecules via sample imaging and delivery of probes to substrate wells”)
The U.S. prong of the case was very successful for 10x Genomics, which was awarded $31 million in patent infringement damages by the District of Delaware in November 2023. The company also successfully obtained a PI against Bruker’s GeoMx products last December (10x Genomics press release). In that claim, however, 10x Genomics had requested a “carve-out” for GeoMx users who installed an instrument prior to the trial in November 2023.
The patents-in-suit in the UPC, both entitled “Compositions and methods for analyte detection”, were:
- EP4108782 (which was upheld, based on an auxiliary request: March 20, 2025 ip fray article)
- EP2794928
10x Genomics’s lawsuit against NanoString caused an unquestionable financial burden on the latter, which filed for bankruptcy in February 2024. Bruker then acquired the company’s assets three months later. The parties’ settlement means Bruker can continue to sell its CosMx® and GeoMx® spatial biology platforms, Mark R. Munch, Ph.D., President of the Bruker Nano Group, confirmed today.
In a statement today, Mr. Munch said the company is “pleased” to have reached a worldwide settlement with 10x:
“This is a great outcome for the scientific community, who can continue their work using Bruker’s CosMx® and GeoMx® spatial biology platforms without concern that litigation could interfere with their advancements in oncology, neurobiology, and other fields of research. We’re excited to be able to focus on the impact and value that these products provide for discovery research, translational research and precision medicine, and we’re happy to have the distraction and expense of these legal cases behind us.”
Counsel
UPC Counsel
Counsel to 10x Genomics: Bardehle Pagenberg’s Tilman Müller-Stoy, Tobias Wuttke, and Axel Berger.
Consel to Bruker: Bird & Bird’s Oliver Jüngst and Daniela Kinkeldey.
U.S. Counsel
Counsel to 10x Genomics: Richards, Layton & Finger’s Frederick L. Cottrell III, Jason J. Rawnsley, Alexandra M. Ewing, and Gabriela Z. Monasterio, as well as Tensegrity Law Group LLP’s Matthew Powers, Paul Ehrlich, Stefani Smith, William P. Nelson, Li Shen, Azra Hadzimehmedovic, Aaron M. Nathan, Samantha Jameson, Ronald J. Pabis, Kiley White, Joanna R. Schacter, and Grace Gretes.
Counsel to President and Fellows of Harvard College: Morris James LLP’s Kenneth L. Dornsey and Cortlan S. Hitch, as well as Foley & Lardner LLP’s Geoffrey M. Raux, Ruben J. Rodrigues, Amani S. Kmeid, Lea Gulotta James, Sarah E. Rieger, Jarren N. Ginsburg, and Andrew M. Gross.
Counsel to Bruker: Farnan Law’s Michael J. Farnan and Brian E. Farnan, as well as Jones Day’s Edward R. Reines, Concord Cheung and Derek C. Walter, and Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP’s Christine E. Lehman, Adam Adler, Sarah Jorgensen, Courtland L. Reichman, and Savannah H. Carnes.