SAN FRANCISCO – Incyte Genomics Inc. and Affymetrix Inc. announced Friday they had settled all patent infringement suits against each other.
The companies declined to disclose the financial terms of the settlement but said they would cross-license each other's intellectual property.
"We're pleased that we've been able to take care of this litigation," said Anne Bowdidge, an Affymetrix spokeswoman.
Santa Clara-based Affymetrix sued in 1998, alleging Incyte violated five of its patents related to the manufacturing of gene chips, which are about the size of a microscope slide and contain specific fragments of specially chosen DNA used by drug companies to understand what effects experimental compounds have on genes.
Palo Alto-based Incyte countered with its own patent infringement suit against Affymetrix.
In October, Incyte said the chip-making field had become so crowded that it even included two companies not associated with life sciences — Motorola Inc. and Agilent Technologies Inc. Incyte laid off 400 of its 1,100 employees and announced it would stop manufacturing chips and refashion itself as a drug maker.
"That probably had a little something to do with the settlement," Incyte spokesman Paul Chirico said.
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