GSI Lumonics Seeks Copyright RulingAgainst BioDiscovery

KANATA, Ontario, Canada, Dec. 30 -- GSI Lumonics Inc. has filed suit in US District Court in Massachusetts seeking a declaratory judgment that the company's QuantArray microarray analysis software does not infringe any copyright owned by BioDiscovery Inc. or its president, Soheil Shams. BioDiscovery produces competing microarray quantification software under the name ImaGene. GSI Lumonics previously distributed ImaGene software under a non-exclusive arrangement with BioDiscovery, but subsequently developed its own product.
BioDiscovery and Shams responded to GSI Lumonics' action by filing a separate suit in federal court in Los Angeles, alleging that GSI Lumonics reverse-engineered software. GSI Lumonics has stated that it expects the matters raised in the California action to be heard in Massachusetts. The company intends to seek dismissal of the California suit in favor of its prior pending action.