A patent and trademark tiff is brewing between 23andMe Inc. and Ancestry.com, the top two competitors in the burgeoning consumer genetic testing market.
23andMe’s suit says Ancestry.com’s sales of its AncestryDNA kits infringes 23andMe’s U.S. Patent No. 8,463,554 covering finding relatives in a database. The company also accuses Ancestry.com of misleadingly comparing its services with 23andMe’s services.
The consumer market for genetic testing is big business, and the services are becoming more popular as consumers get more comfortable using them. In 2017, the consumer DNA testing market was valued at $99 million, and it could hit $310 million by 2022, ...