Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday that it has filed a motion inDelaware Chancery Court seeking a preliminary injunction toblock the transfer of Cetus Corp.'s polymerase chain reactiontechnology to Hoffmann-La Roche.

Kodak sued Cetus on Monday, claiming that the transfer wouldinterfere with the pending arbitration between Kodak andCetus over rights to commercialize PCR technology.

"We believe we have rights to develop this technology based onour agreement with Cetus," said Kodak spokesman Ron Roberts,referring to a joint research and development agreementbetween the companies that ended in 1989.

Cetus' proposed sale of its PCR business to Roche for $300million was announced in July, at the same time that Cetus andChiron Corp. revealed plans to merge.

Cetus said it will oppose the preliminary injunction. Its stock(NASDAQ:CTUS) Thursday closed down 25 cents at $14.88.Chiron stock (NASDAQ:CHIR) rose 75 cents to $53.50.

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