San Diego-based Nanogen Inc. announced that it has settled a complaint with Beckman Coulter Inc. of Fullerton, Calif., regarding the latter's patent for optical and electrical methods of detecting molecules. Nanogen had filed a complaint seeking a declaratory judgment against Beckman Coulter, Motorola Inc. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company's action against Motorola and MIT continues.

Beckman Coulter issued Nanogen a license for the technology, which it incorporates into its NanoChip molecular biology workstation. The system, which has completed beta testing and been in precommercial release, marked its first commercial sale in June.