Ad-hoc | 21 September 2001 07:30

MorphoSys AG english

Ad-hoc-announcement transmitted by DGAP. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– MorphoSys Confirms Filing of New Patent Lawsuit by CAT The Munich-based biotechnology company MorphoSys AG (Neuer Markt: MOR) confirmed that Cambridge Antibody Technology Ltd. (CAT), together with Medical Research Council, Scripps Research Institute and Stratagene, initiated a lawsuit at the United States District Court of Washington D.C. alleging infringement of two of CATs recently granted “Huse/Lerner/Winter” patents in the U.S. The two Huse/Lerner/Winter patents subject to these proceedings allegedly cover certain antibody expression libraries and were granted in the U.S.A. on September 19, 2001 (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,291,158 and 6,291,161). The lawsuit alleges that MorphoSys infringes three claims found in the two patents.In Europe, a related Winter II patent was granted to CAT in 1994 and MorphoSys successfully opposed it at the European Patent Office (EPO) in October 1999. In its decision in 1999, the EPO requested CAT to make substantial changes in the language of the key claim in the patent, thereby significantly narrowing the scope of protection. A related U.S. Winter II patent (No. 6,248,516) was granted to CAT in June 2001, and the corresponding patent infringement suits filed against MorphoSys in the U.S. District Court of Southern California were both dismissed , for lack of jurisdiction and improper venue. MorphoSys has since filed an action for Declaratory Judgment in the U.S. District Court of Washington D.C. asking that the patent be declared invalid and not infringed. The new lawsuit is based on a different patent than which was involved in the pending suit in the United States District Court in Washington D.C., which is based on CAT’s U.S. Patent No. 5,885,793 (Griffiths patent). Following a two week trial, CAT failed to obtain an infringement verdict from the jury, and MorphoSys received in August 2001 a preliminary ruling from the court in its favour, stating MorphoSys should prevail on the issue of infringement pending further briefings or proceedings. end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 21.09.2001 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 663200; Index: Nemax 50 Listed: Neuer Markt in Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 210730 Sep 01