Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2014

Loss Contingency [Abstract]

Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 13 – Contingencies

On June 7, 2004, the Company and Enzo Life Sciences, Inc., filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut against Applera Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary Tropix, Inc., now Life Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIFE) which was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (NYSE:TMO) on February 3, 2014. The complaint alleged infringement of six patents relating to DNA sequencing systems, labeled nucleotide products, and other technology. Yale University is the owner of four of the patents and the Company is the exclusive licensee. These four patents are commonly referred to as the “Ward” patents. On November 12, 2012, a jury in New Haven found that one of these patents (United States Patent No. 5,449,667) was infringed and not proven invalid. The jury awarded $48.5 million for this infringement. On January 6, 2014, the judge awarded prejudgment interest of approximately $12.5 million and additional post-interest on the full amount will also be awarded starting November 7, 2012 until the total award is satisfied. The final award to Enzo could be reduced or be subject to possible claims from third parties. On February 3, 2014, Life Technologies filed a notice of appeal and there can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in this litigation. Even if the Company is not successful, management does not believe that there will be a significant adverse monetary impact on the Company.

As of August 1, 2013, the Company, as plaintiff, was engaged in litigation in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against six parties (and certain of their related companies): Amersham plc, PerkinElmer, Inc., Molecular Probes, Inc., Orchid Biosciences, Inc., Affymetrix, Inc., and Roche Diagnostic GmbH (“Roche”). These cases were commenced at various times from October 2002 to June 2004. In each of the six cases, the Company had asserted similar (with some differences) causes of action against the defendants which can be generally described as contract, tort, fraud, and patent claims, except that no patent claims are asserted against Affymetrix. In the Roche case, Roche seeks a declaratory judgment of non-breach and patent invalidity against the Company. The cases were consolidated for pre-trial purposes in 2004 and there has been extensive discovery among the parties. In 2011, the defendants moved for summary judgment of non-infringement regarding the Company’s patent claims. In 2012, those motions were granted in part and denied in part. In December 2012, all six defendants moved for summary judgment on the Company’s non-patent claims. Additional discovery was taken and the Company responded to the motions in May 2013. On October 22, 2013, the Court granted Amersham’s motion for summary judgment. Thereafter, on November 26, 2013, the parties settled and dismissed the Amersham case. On October 28, 2013, the Court granted in part and denied in part PerkinElmer’s motion for summary judgment. A jury trial in that case was postponed on March 18, 2014 and rescheduled for June 30, 2014. By decisions dated December 6, 2013, the Court granted in part and denied in part the summary judgment by Roche and Affymetrix. A jury trial was been ordered in Roche’s case on a date to be determined. On the same date, the Court granted the summary judgment for the remaining two motions by Molecular Probes and Orchid.

On April 22, 2014, the Company as plaintiff finalized and executed a settlement agreement with Affymetrix, Inc. to settle a patent litigation lawsuit (the “Agreement”) in the amount of $5.1 million. Under terms of the Agreement, Affymetrix paid to the Company $4.3 million and paid to the Company’s attorneys $0.8 million, which is included in legal fees in the statements of operations for the three and nine months ended April 30, 2014. The amount of the settlement is included in the statement of operations under Legal settlements, net within the Life Science segment.

In 2012, the Company received a Subpoena Duces Tecum (the “Subpoena”) from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“OIG”). The Subpoena was issued as part of an investigation being conducted by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in conjunction with the OIG. While a number of potential issues were raised initially by the government, the investigation came to focus primarily on an alleged failure to collect diagnosis codes from physicians who ordered tests through Enzo Clinical Labs. The time period initially covered by the investigation was from 2004 through 2011. In response to the Subpoena, the Company cooperated with the government. At this time, the Company and the U.S. Department of Justice have reached a preliminary agreement on the principal terms of a settlement to resolve this matter. As a result, the Company believes that an estimate of the settlement is approximately $2.0 million and has reserved this amount in the statement of operations under legal settlements, net within the Clinical Labs segment. The Company believes that the settlement amount, upon conclusion, will be paid over a five year period and has recorded $0.4 million as other current liabilities and $1.6 million as a non-current liability at April 30, 2014. Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to accelerate payments and/or pay up to an additional $1.5 million based upon a favorable recovery and collection related to the judgment in the Life Technologies matter discussed above or sale of the Company. The settlement covers the time period 2004-2013.

Due to the on-going settlement discussions, it is possible that a settlement may not be reached under the terms above. The final outcome, if different than the Company’s preliminary estimate, could have a material effect on the Company’s business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flow.

The Company is party to other claims, legal actions, complaints, and contractual disputes that arise in the ordinary course of business. The Company believes that any liability that may ultimately result from the resolution of these matters will not, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on its financial position or results of operations.