In a recent case, Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Int’l Ltd., a divided Federal Circuit held valid a patent directed to a schizophrenia drug, finding that the claims met the “Mayo standard”. The patent at issue directs physicians to treat patients who have low CYP2D6 activity (an enzyme) with a lower amount of iloperidone, […]
{3:35 minutes to read} On May 5, 2016, the USPTO published new patent eligibility examples, including two examples related to diagnostic methods (examples 29 and 31). Example 29 is directed to a method for diagnosing and treating Julitis (a hypothetical disease). According to the hypothetical, Julitis is an autoimmune disease causing chronic inflammation of the […]
{1:35 minutes to read} On April 8, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit, decided Genetic Technologies Limited v. Merial L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. The issue of this case related to the discovery that, in human DNA, certain coding alleles are always linked with certain non-coding alleles. Thus, searching for the non-coding sequences corresponding […]
{1:40 minutes to read} A significant case for the patent law industry is currently on appeal before the Federal Circuit court. The case, Immersion Corp. v HTC Corp., could decide what happens when an application is filed before the patenting of its parent application. Oral arguments for this case will be heard by the court […]
{1:40 minutes to read} In evaluating the case Magna Electronics, Inc. v. TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., I pose an important question: Is this the end of the patent term adjustment? What are the facts of the case? The patent at issue (U.S. Patent No. 7,339,149, hereinafter “the ‘149 patent”) was filed November 16, 1999, by […]
{2:15 minutes to read} In Avid Technology, Inc. v. Harmonic, the Federal Circuit found that Harmonic did not infringe on the patent and that the district court—based on a statement made during the prosecution of the underlying patent—had erred in construing a claimed term too narrowly. During prosecution, to distinguish the claimed subject matter over […]
{3 minutes to read} In the recently decided case Pfizer v. Lee, the Federal Circuit affirmed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, upholding the lower court’s ruling that the patent term adjustment calculation should stop the clock from running against the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) […]
{3:30 minutes to read} A recent case has been decided, and it is significant because it might define the standard for evaluating a patent under the American Invents Act (AIA) post-grant proceedings. On Friday, January 15, 2016, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to Cuozzo Speed Technologies, which asked the court two questions: Whether the Court […]
{3:30 minutes to read} In the recently decided case In re Urbanski, the Federal Circuit Court upheld the decision of the United States Patent & Trademark Office’s Trial and Appeal Board, which had found obvious the claims of Urbanski’s patent application. Urbanski had argued unsuccessfully that the cited references taught away from their combination. However, […]
{2:30 minutes to read} The Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has just announced another new pilot program designed to reduce the backlog of ex parte appeals waiting to be heard by the Board. It will allow small or micro-entity appellants with only a single appeal pending […]