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Illumina Inc. and Oxford Nanopore Technologies have reached a settlement in this legal battle, according to a U.S. International Trade Commission document released last week. Oxford has agreed not to import or sell any product containing a pore with an amino acid sequence at least 68% similar to Mycobacterium smegmatis porin (Msp)—the protein at the heart of Illumina’s infringement claim—and to destroy any inventory of such products. 

[...] Illumina, Inc.—which dominates the genetic sequencing industry—sued Oxford Nanopore Technologies, the first company to market a commercial nanopore platform. Illumina claims that Oxford’s two flagship devices infringe on patents that Illumina controls.

[...] Illumina, meanwhile, has yet to release a nanopore platform

[...] Illumina’s chance of winning the case might come down to a “very messy” aspect of patent law called the doctrine of equivalents, he says. The doctrine holds that a party can be liable for infringement even if their product doesn’t literally match what’s described in a patent, provided their product performs the same function, in the same way, to achieve the same result as the patented invention.