San Diego, CA (September 22, 2025) Element Biosciences, Inc. today announced that it has filed lawsuits alleging antitrust violations, anticompetitive conduct, and patent infringement against Illumina.
Antitrust Action in the United States
Element has filed an antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that Illumina has engaged in a wide-ranging unlawful campaign to maintain and entrench its monopoly in short-read next-generation sequencing instruments, consumables, and services.
The complaint details illegal and coercive practices including exclusive dealing, predatory discounts, and disparagement designed to suppress competition and limit customer choice. It includes allegations that rely on, among other things, written communications in which an Illumina salesperson conditioned discounts on a customer’s agreement to purchase exclusively from Illumina.
The lawsuit asserts violations of federal and state antitrust laws, California’s unfair competition and secret allowance statutes, and related state torts, and seeks damages and injunctive relief.
Patent Actions in the United States and Germany
Element has also filed two patent infringement suits asserting patents licensed exclusively to the company. In the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware Element has asserted four U.S. Patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 8,612,161, 9,605,301, 9,909,174, and 11,001,887). In Germany, Element has asserted a patent before the Regional Court of Munich I (DE 112008000363).
Across these actions, Element alleges that multiple Illumina systems and consumables infringe patents covering key innovations in next-generation sequencing technology, including the MiSeq, Miseq i100, MiniSeq, NextSeq 1000/2000, NovaSeq 6000, and NovaSeq X systems.
Element is committed to stopping Illumina’s unlawful acts of infringement, and to putting an end to Illumina’s anti-competitive tactics.
About Element Biosciences, Inc.
Element Biosciences is a life science company democratizing access to advanced biological tools, driving impactful discoveries to benefit humanity. Through innovating every fundamental element of a biological assay system, Element empowers customers with affordable, high-quality data and an improved user experience, which in turn will accelerate scientific discoveries. To learn more about Element, please visit www.elementbiosciences.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Facebook.
Media Contact
Michael Sullivan
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