Edward R. Reines

REDWOOD CITY - From July 2021 through May 2022, Edward R. Reines took five separate patent or patent-related cases before juries, landing multimillion-dollar verdicts in several and bringing in a favorable settlement in another. All five were high-stakes matters in the fast-developing field of genomics, Reines said.

One of them, at $45 million, is believed to be the largest Lanham Act false advertising verdict ever in a case brought by a private party. CareDx, Inc. v. Natera, Inc., 1:19-cv- 00662 (D. Del., filed April 10, 2019).

The issue dealt with genetic tests to monitor the risk of organ rejection for kidney transplant patients. Natura's marketing materials claimed its test was far superior to CareDx's test, but Reines presented what he called strong documentation to prove those claims were false. The jury found willfulness and awarded $23.7 million in punitive damages.

"It's nice to clean up the market of essentially false information," he said.

On behalf of Illumina, Reines won an injunction that prevented a Chinese competitor's gene sequencer from ever being sold in the U.S. Then, he went on to win an $8 million jury verdict against the competitor for infringement. Illumina, Inc. v. BGI Genomics Co. Ltd, 3:19-cv-03770 (N.D. Cal., filed June 27, 2019).

Soon after, he joined an ongoing patent infringement case dealing with new technology that uses genetic tests to diagnose and treat cancer. Reines came into the case weeks before trial and, together with the other attorneys, won a $4.7 million jury award -- which was more than they had requested. ArcherDX LLC v. Qiagen Sciences LLC, 1:18-cv- 01019 (D. Del., filed July 10, 2018).

In a fourth trial, he represented Harvard University, the University of Chicago, Livermore Labs and Bio-Rad Laboratories in alleging that a French company was infringing their various patents on tools to analyze the DNA of individual cells. It settled midway through. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. v. Stilla Technologies Inc., 1:19-cv-11587 (D. Mass., filed July 22, 2019).

Although the fifth jury trial this past May went against him, Reines said trying five genomics cases in one year validates Weil's role in that important field. "There's so many exciting, new advances in medicine in the genomics area," he said. "It's exciting to help ... these products get out there."