Patent Law Weblog
Category: Federal Circuit
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Two academic amici — Robert Cook-Deegan (at right), Research Professor and Director, Center for Public Genomics at Duke University, and Christopher Holman, Ph.D. (Molecular Biology) (below left), Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law — filed a brief in the AMP v. USPTO (Myriad) appeal…
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By Donald Zuhn — Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit, in Mikkilineni v. Stoll, affirmed a decision of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissing Mikkilineni's challenge of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Interim Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Examination Instructions ("Interim Guidelines"). Plaintiff-Appellant M. R. Mikkilineni filed an application claiming "a…
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By Donald Zuhn — Last week, in Cancer Research Technology Ltd. v. Barr Laboratories, Inc., the Federal Circuit reversed the decision by the District Court for the District of Delaware holding U.S. Patent No. 5,260,291 unenforceable for prosecution laches and inequitable conduct. Judge Lourie, writing for the Court and joined by Judge Newman, held that…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Supreme Court has spent a decade second-guessing (and in large part overturning) decisions of the Federal Circuit in the exercise of its unique mission to harmonize patent law. Sometimes this oversight has been occasioned by disputes between different members of the appellate court (e.g., Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis…
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By Donald Zuhn — In an amicus brief filed in Association of Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Genetic Alliance adds its name to the list of groups supporting reversal of the District Court's decision that the claims of several patents on BRCA1 were invalid as encompassing non-statutory subject matter. The not-for-profit, tax-exempt…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — On October 29, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) filed an amici curiae brief in AMP v. USPTO (the Myriad case). Fittingly (in view of the interest, financial and otherwise, of their members in patented genetic technologies), the brief is focused on the…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Abbott has filed its reply brief in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson & Co., and it is timely to discuss this brief on the eve of oral argument before the en banc Federal Circuit. The brief begins by noting the many areas of agreement between the parties, the U.S. Patent and…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) filed an amicus brief in the Myriad case (Association of Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office), in support of neither party but advocating reversal. While making many of the arguments made by Myriad and other amici, the brief contains at least…
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By Donald Zuhn — In an amicus brief filed last Friday with the Federal Circuit in Association of Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) sets forth the organization's views regarding "two issues of vital importance to the proper functioning of the patent system." In response to the…
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By Donald Zuhn — On October 22, Defendants-Appellants Myriad Genetics, Inc. and ten Directors of the University of Utah Research Foundation filed their brief in Association of Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (see "Myriad Files Appeal Brief in AMP v. USPTO"). Pursuant to Rules 29(e) and 31(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of…
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