Here is BD Vs Beckman Coulter suit filed 2/3/2018 and settled in 2021
My quickie summary of the case: My belief is it was settled becuase Cytek wanted to go public and it had to settle before that could happen. Cytek listed about $20M in legal fees - I presume they paid theirs and BDs but I really don't knw. BD got a big hunk of Cytek shares in the deal, plus a ton of $$ paid each year but its unclear how many years. BD also licensed to Cytek much or all of their IP (we don't exactly know how much). So, Cytek whent off and did their IPO in July 2021. You know the rest of the story......
All the following documents are public documents.
Doc 1 -BD original Complaint (this describes Project Newton, BDs attempt at building a spectral flow cytometer) (see below)
Doc 57- First amended complaing in BD suit june 2018
Doc 119-June 14 2019 BD counterclaim
Doc 154 cytek's response to BDs 2nd complaint
Doc 160 _Cytek reply to BDs 3rd complaint
Doc 177 BDs 3rd Amended complaint agains Cytek
Doc 192 Stipulation regarding mediation
Doc 193 stip'n regarding potenial setlement between bd & cytek
Doc 194 Notvce of withdrawal of appearance (cytek counsel)
Case 3:18-cv-00933-MMC
Document 177: Third amended complaint *BD filed this on May 6, 2020) Interesting paragraphs:
"2. In roughly 2012, BD started development on a spectral flow cytometer, a new type of flow cytometer that analyzes the light detected by a flow cytometer differently to optimize sensitivity and flexibility. This project was known internally as “Project Newton.” Defendant Yan headed up Project Newton, dedicating to it the majority of his time over approximately two years. Defendants Yan, Riley, Vrane, Zhang, Gong, Zhong, Jaimes, Reinin, and Shook (the “Individual Defendants”) worked on Project Newton and/or other confidential flow cytometer products. Their collective exposure to BD’s confidential information spanned the areas of physics, chemistry, biology, fluidics, optics, electrical engineering, and computer science, as well as BD’s marketing, finances, and competitive strategy. Each of these former BD employees had access to BD’s confidential information related to Project Newton, and numerous other trade secrets and copyrighted BD works involving flow cytometry."
"53. BD invested significant resources in Project Newton, including multiple years of research, financial investment, and substantial personnel time. BD developed a working prototype, including a processing algorithm that allowed it to process and analyze assay data. The specific ways in which BD’s algorithms process and analyze data are proprietary and confidential and constitute trade secrets, and BD takes substantial care in keeping these algorithms secret and out of the hands of its competitors."
