10x Genomics ($TXG) launched its IPO on September 12, trading up as much as 49% on its debut. While the market is rewarding the company’s prospects, its lingering patent fight with Bio-Rad Laboratories ($BIO) continues. Bio-Rad and 10x have been locked in a patent battle over technology allegedly covering most of 10x’s products. The case, which has been pending since 2015, is now heading to appeal. 10x suffered a fairly significant loss at the jury trial, after which the court ordered an injunction against essentially all of 10x’s products. Earlier this year, 10x launched a redesigned product to circumvent, Next GEM, to circumvent the injunction. Yet, on the eve of 10x’s IPO, Bio-Rad hit 10x with another patent suit, now directly targeting 10x’s Next GEM product. Can Bio-Rad’s patents stop 10x’s trajectory?
Read MoreThis is the year of the unicorns. Or maybe just the year of unicorns going public. Firms including Lyft, Uber, AirBnB, WeWork and Pinterest either have, will or are contemplating going public. Last week, The Economist published an interesting briefing on unicorns. The primary thesis is that they are overvalued. At heart, their users are not faithful, and barriers to entry won’t stop competitors from encroaching on their base. Yet, for all the reasons unicorns try to downplay this concern, there’s no mention of patents and IP as a line of defense. Why not?
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