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<p>Competitors in the DNA Microarray business include Illumina, GE Healthcare, Ocimum Biosolutions, Applied Biosystems, Beckman Coulter, Eppendorf Biochip Systems[1], and Agilent. There are also various inexpensive plastic-based technologies under development in small companies and laboratories around the world. It has been widely speculated that mass-produced plastic chips can be produced at lower prices than Affymetrix's quartz chips.</p>
<p>The company also manufactures machinery for high speed analysis of biological samples. List prices for the newest DNA arrayers, which prepare and place samples onto chips, are around $250,000 each. Scanners which read the results from the chip list from $150,000 for complete starter systems to $325,000 for high-throughput systems. Substantially lower retail prices have been seen in the market.</p>
<p>The business model of Affymetrix is based on these sources for revenue: consumables; instruments; subscription, service, license; royalty; and sales to Perlegen Sciences. Affymetrix currently controls 82% of the DNA microarray market<sup class="noprint Template-Fact"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources since February 2007" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[<em>citation needed</em>]</span></sup> in terms of sales.</p>[http://www.california-liability-insurance.com/ General Liability Insurance CA]
<p>Affymetrix has established a licensing program to make its intellectual property accessible to stimulate the broad commercialization of genome analysis technologies. Licensing fees have offset weak product sales in Q3-2006. They have several collaboration relationships with other companies that utilize their patented GeneChip technology.</p>
<p>Currently Affymetrix is fighting a patent infringement lawsuit against Illumina, alleging the infringement of six Affymetrix patents. A pre-trial hearing favors Affymetrix, but the trial is not until May 2007.</p>