The ruling is seen as a pivotal decision in the ongoing lawsuit between the two companies. Though Vicam still has some options remaining if it wishes to delay the inevitable result, Neogen believes that this ruling is paramount in vindicating Neogen of the charges made by Vicam. However, we regard this court ruling as a major victory in bringing to a close expensive litigation that has continued for the past three years. In August 1997 Vicam and its president, Jack Radlo, sent a letter to more than 100 companies alleging that one of Neogen's diagnostic tests infringed on two patents licensed to Vicam. The letter threatened those companies with legal action if they purchased Neogen's new product to detect aflatoxin in peanuts.
Aflatoxin is a known carcinogen of particular concern to the peanut industry.
Neogen provided Vicam with evidence that the patent infringement allegations were baseless, and asked for an immediate retraction. After Vicam refused, Neogen brought suit for damages and asked the court for a declaratory judgement that Neogen's product did not infringe on Vicam's patents. About a year after Neogen filed suit, Vicam filed a counterclaim alleging patent infringement, but only on one of the two patents. Prior to manufacturing its immunoaffinity column diagnostic test, Neogen had obtained the written opinions of two highly-respected patent law firms. The law firms independently concluded that Neogen's invention would not infringe Vicam's narrow patents, as polyclonal antibodies are produced utilizing a completely different technology than that for a monoclonal antibody.