By Sherri Oslick

A note to our readers: Patent Docs apologizes to our
readers for the recent Court Report hiatus.  This Court Reporter was deeply immersed in very intensive preliminary
injunction proceedings and has just now been able to come up for air.  We will catch our readers up in the next few
postings.  Patent Docs thanks our readers
for their patience.

Rite Aid Corp. v. Purdue Pharma L.P. et. al.*
1:06-cv-15034; filed December 19, 2006 in the Southern
District of New York

Safeway Inc. v. Purdue Pharma L.P. et. al.*
1:06-cv-15326; filed December 20, 2006 in the Southern
District of New York

The complaints in these two cases are substantially
identical.  Declaratory judgment of
invalidity and unenforceability of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,508,042 ("Controlled
Release Oxycodone Compositions," issued April 16, 1996), 5,549,912 (same
title, issued August 27, 1996), and 5,656,295 (same title, issued August 12,
1997) covering controlled release formulations of oxycodone hydrochloride
(Purdue Pharma's OxyContin®, used to treat pain).  As noted in the complaint, the litigation
history of these patents is extensive.  View the Rite Aid complaint here.

 *Note to our readers: Court report will be periodically monitoring the progress of these cases.

Novartis Corp. et. al. v. Par Pharmaceutical Co., Inc.
et. al.
2:06-cv-06283 ; filed December 29, 2006 in the District
Court of New Jersey

Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,162,802
("Synergistic Combination Therapy Using Benazepril and Amlodipine for the
Treatment of Cardiovascular Disorders and Compositions Therefor," issued
December 19, 2000) following a paragraph IV certification as part of Par's
filing of an ANDA to manufacture a generic version of Novartis' Lotrel®
(amlodipine besylate/benazepril hydrochloride, used to treat
hypertension).  View the complaint here.  (Novartis has also sued Lupin Ltd.
in on the same grounds; view our report here).

Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. v. Institute
Pasteur et. al.
1:07-cv-00034; filed January 5, 2007 in the District
Court of the District of Columbia

Review of the decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and
Interferences awarding priority of invention to Institute Pasteur in the
interference between U.S. Patent 6,532,276 ("Methods for Detecting Human
Immunodeficiency Virus Nucleic Acid"), owned by Novartis Vaccines and
Diagnostics, Inc. (formerly Chiron), and U.S. Patent Application 07/999,410
("Cloned DNA Sequences, Hybridizable with Genomic RNA of
Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus (LAV)").  View the complaint here.