CombiMatrix Announces Strategic Alliance with Toppan.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2003

Acacia Research Corporation (Nasdaq:ACTG)(Nasdaq:CBMX) today announced CombiMatrix has entered into a multi-year strategic alliance with Toppan Printing Corporation to develop and manufacture microarrays utilizing CombiMatrix's proprietary electrochemical detection approach.

Under the terms of the agreement, Toppan will pay CombiMatrix an upfront fee of $1 million and additional development and milestones payments. CombiMatrix and Toppan will co-develop semiconductor microarrays for applications in life science research and development as well as diagnostics.

CombiMatrix and Toppan will work together to develop a commercial microarray product suite based around CombiMatrix's microarray platform and proprietary electrochemical detection approaches. CombiMatrix microarrays utilize electrochemical methods for synthesis of biological molecules, and the focus of this alliance will be to utilize the same electrochemical capability for detection as well. This partnership does not impact the existing relationship with Roche for products that utilize optical detection techniques.

The electrochemical approach will enable smaller and less expensive detection instrumentation and potential improvement in performance characteristics over conventional microarrays, which use optical methods for detection. CombiMatrix has already demonstrated this technology in small prototype instruments and assays for biological and chemical defense applications. Upon commercialization, Toppan will manufacture microarrays for CombiMatrix and its partners and will share revenues and royalties on these products.

"We are pleased to have Toppan join Roche as an additional strategic partner. Toppan is a multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation with tremendous expertise in designing and fabricating semiconductor devices and microelectronics," said Dr. Amit Kumar, President and CEO of CombiMatrix Corporation. "This alliance is in keeping with our strategy to work with corporate partners to help fund much of our development efforts as well as provide us infrastructure and other capabilities. This relationship leverages our strengths in biology with Toppan's strength in device fabrication and manufacturing."

Hideaki Kawai, Managing Director and Head of Corporate R&D of Toppan said, "We are excited to work with CombiMatrix in the biotech area. As we evaluate additional opportunities for semiconductor devices, life science and diagnostics applications are expected to be rapidly growing markets over the next few years. This partnership will allow us to apply our expertise in circuit design, semiconductor mask preparation and circuit printing to a new market for Toppan. Toppan has made a commitment to develop new technologies for the biotech industry. We expect this partnership will result in a successful new business group at Toppan."

ABOUT TOPPAN

Formed in 1900, TOPPAN Printing Co., Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan is a leader in the global printing industry. With its consolidated subsidiaries, TOPPAN had net sales of over $9.7 billion with 33,000 employees in fiscal 2002. TOPPAN applies the expertise it has gained from printing in diverse industry sectors that include securities & cards, commercial printing, publications printing, packaging materials, industrial materials, electronics, business forms and multimedia. A good example of the results obtained with recent R&D is the development of electronic paper. In May 2001, TOPPAN established a partnership with E Ink Corporation, of the United States for the development of electronic paper. Electronic paper incorporates a wide range of know-how developed by Toppan over many years. In addition to the electronic paper, TOPPAN will make further progress in our basic technologies, such as printing, microfabrication, and organic material processing, and provide next-generation, highly functional materials and components in biotechnology, energy-related, and nanotechnology markets. For more information, please visit TOPPAN's website at http://www.toppan.co.jp/index_f.html.

ABOUT ACACIA RESEARCH CORPORATION

Acacia Research Corporation comprises two operating groups, Acacia Technologies Group and CombiMatrix Group. The Acacia Technologies group licenses its DMT and V-Chip technologies to media and electronics companies. The DMT technology covers the transmission and receipt of digital audio and digital video content, commonly known as audio on-demand, video on-demand, and audio/video streaming, and is supported by 5 U.S. and 17 international patents.

The CombiMatrix group is developing a platform technology to rapidly produce customizable active biochips, which are semiconductor-based tools for use in identifying and determining the roles of genes, gene mutations and proteins. CombiMatrix's technology has a wide range of applications, from DNA synthesis/diagnostics to immunochemical detection. Information about Acacia Research Corporation and the Acacia Technologies group is available at www.acaciaresearch.com. Information about the CombiMatrix group is available at www.combimatrix.com.

Acacia Research-Acacia Technologies (Nasdaq:ACTG) and Acacia Research-CombiMatrix (Nasdaq:CBMX) are both classes of common stock issued by Acacia Research Corporation and are intended to reflect the performance of the respective operating groups and are not issued by the operating groups.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon our current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof. Our actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and uncertainties, including the recent economic slowdown affecting technology companies, our ability to successfully develop products, rapid technological change in our markets, changes in demand for our future products, legislative, regulatory and competitive developments and general economic conditions. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, recent and forthcoming Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Forms 8-K and 8-K/A, and other SEC filings discuss some of the important risk factors that may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.