Patent Law Weblog
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- BioNTech Sues Moderna over mRNA Vaccine Technology
- CNIPA Issues Letter on Identity of Foreign Inventors
- REGENEXBIO Inc. v. Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2026)
- Apple v. Squires: USPTO Director Has Unlimited Discretion on IPR Institution
- The Ghost in the Machine: Why GenAI Can Be Both a Brilliant Researcher and a Terrible Advocate
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Category: Federal Circuit
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By Donald Zuhn — Last month, the Federal Circuit dismissed an appeal by Institut Pasteur of a determination by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences affirming the rejection of claim 14 of U.S. Patent No. 7,309,605 in an inter partes reexamination requested by Precision BioSciences. The Federal Circuit also reversed the Board's affirmance of…
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FDCA Does Not Preempt State Unfair Competition Laws By Kevin E. Noonan — If you have ever wondered how popular eyelash enhancers like RevitaLash and Latisse produce their effects, Allergan, Inc. v. Athena Cosmetics, Inc. provides the answer: these products comprise prostaglandin derivatives. The questions raised in this case involved whether these products were regulated…
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By Donald Zuhn — In an opinion issued earlier today, the Federal Circuit affirmed a determination by the District Court for the District of Columbia that challenges of patent term adjustment (PTA) determinations by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for fifteen patents were untimely asserted by Novartis AG, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc., and…
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By Donald Zuhn — Reflecting upon the events of the past twelve months, Patent Docs presents its seventh annual list of top biotech/pharma patent stories. For 2013, we identified fourteen stories that were covered on Patent Docs last year that we believe had (or are likely to have) the greatest impact on biotech/pharma patent practitioners…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — A classic example of product "evergreening" is how AstraZeneca used its experience with its omeprazole franchise (sold for over a decade as Prilosec®) to promote an alternative form of the drug, Nexium® (particularly, the S-omeprazole enantiomer) as "the little purple pill." One reason this strategy deserves admiration is that it…
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By Andrew Williams — When does a prior art disclosure of a concentration range of a medicament render obvious the use of a species that falls within that range, when that same use was also known in the prior art? After all, common sense should dictate that if the same drug were used in the…
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By Donald Zuhn — On November 22, the Federal Circuit reversed a determination by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirming the rejection of the claims 1, 8-11, and 14 of U.S. Application No. 11/145,716 as anticipated by DE Patent No. 10053155 A1 ("Jungkeit") and as obvious in view Jungkeit and U.S. Patent No. 6,107,349. …
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By Donald Zuhn — Last week, in Sanofi-Aventis v. Pfizer Inc., the Federal Circuit affirmed an award of priority to Pfizer by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences in an interference involving the cDNA for the human interleukin-13 receptor binding chain (IL-13bc). In particular, the appeal concerned the Board's decision with respect to the…
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By Donald Zuhn — In an appeal decided last month, the Federal Circuit reversed and remanded a decision of noninfringement by the District Court for the District of New Jersey with respect to U.S. Patent No. 7,524,834, and affirmed the District Court's finding of obviousness with respect to U.S. Patent No. 6,598,603. The panel also…
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A Little Reminder to the PTO about Due Process and the Importance of Objective Evidence of Non-Obviousness By Alison Baldwin — In its decision on September 24th, the Federal Circuit reminded the Patent Office that the principles of due process are still alive and kicking and cannot be ignored by the Patent Office's judiciary. The…
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