Codexis receives notice of patent breach from Dyadic

In California, Codexis announced that the company has received notice from Dyadic International, Inc. alleging that Codexis is in breach under a license agreement established by the companies on November 14, 2008.

According to the notice, Dyadic intends to terminate the agreement in 60 days if the breach is not cured to Dyadic’s satisfaction. Codexis believes that it is not in breach of the Dyadic license agreement, and that the Dyadic notice is unjustified and is without any legal or factual basis, and Codexis is considering all available remedies to protect its interests under the Dyadic license agreement.

Under the license agreement, Codexis obtained a non-exclusive license relating to Dyadic’s C1-based proprietary fungal expression technology for the production of enzymes to make products in the fields of biofuels, certain pharmaceuticals, chemicals, air treatment, water treatment and the conversion of cellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars for use in non-fuel products. Codexis agreed to pay Dyadic certain license issuance fees, milestone payments and fees based on volume of enzyme products sold or manufactured using this Dyadic technology.

Codexis currently uses this license from Dyadic solely in connection with its CodeXyme cellulase enzymes. Codexis does not expect that termination of the Dyadic license would have any impact on its current pharmaceutical and CodeXol detergent alcohol businesses.