Illumina Escapes DNA Researchers’ Trade Secret Claims

A group of genetics researchers failed in their claims against Illumina Inc. and others that allegedly misused their trade secrets in patent applications.

The researchers failed to bring the claims within three years after they should have been on notice, a Manhattan federal court said Tuesday.

The researchers said they collaborated with Cornell University to invent a “novel method for diagnosing human genetic defects” involving extracting DNA from a sample and matching it up to an array of DNA sequences to reveal mutations.

In 1994, the head of a biotech company peer reviewed the researchers’ grant application for the National ...