Texas Supreme Court Hears UT Regents’ $51M Royalty Dispute

A $51 million final judgment awarding the University of Texas System Board of Regents royalties wrongly withheld by a veterinary diagnostic testing company is based on the plain reading of an unambiguous contract and must be reinstated, counsel for the board told the Texas Supreme Court during oral arguments Wednesday.

The state’s high court in September agreed to wade into the contract interpretation dispute that pits UT against IDEXX Laboratories, a company that makes and sells diagnostic tests used by veterinarians to detect heartworms. UT and IDEXX inked a three-tier royalty deal under which the lab, seeking to expand its product line, licensed UT’s technology relating to the detection of Lyme disease.