Category: Licensing

  • By Kevin E. Noonan — U.S. patent law grants patent owners the right to grant licenses to their patents in analogy to landlords granting rents to real property as a license to use without obtaining ownership.  35 U.S.C. §§ 261-262.  But the complexities that can ensue, both in what is licensed and when it is…

  • By Donald Zuhn — One year ago today, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic.  At the time of the announcement, the WHO noted that there were 118,000 cases reported globally, but in its most recent situation report, the WHO indicated that as of March 7, 2021 there…

  • By Donald Zuhn — Earlier this month, in Bayer CropScience AG v. Dow Agrosciences LLC, the Federal Circuit concluded that the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia correctly confirmed an international arbitration tribunal's award of $455 million, modified the judgment such that post-judgment interest accrues at the federal statutory rate, and affirmed the…

  • By Donald Zuhn — Last month, we reported on letters sent by two Senators and fifteen Representatives to the U.S. Trade Representative, seeking clarification regarding the Administration's position on compulsory licenses.  The letters were prompted by reports that representatives of the U.S. government may have pressured the Colombian government not to issue a compulsory license…

  • By Donald Zuhn –- In letter from three Colombian organizations to the Chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) 2016 Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG) (posted on the info.justice.org blog), the organizations informed the CEWG of efforts to secure a compulsory license for Imatinib, marketed by Novartis as…

  • By Donald Zuhn — After reflecting upon the events of the past twelve months, Patent Docs presents its ninth annual list of top patent stories.  For 2015, we identified twenty stories that were covered on Patent Docs last year that we believe had (or are likely to have) the greatest impact on patent practitioners and…

  • By Kevin E. Noonan — In the 1977 Yale Law School Holiday Pageant there was a skit about the Supreme Court, with a song sung to the tune of Cole Porter's "Another Opening, Another Show" from the musical Kiss Me Kate: Another opening, another termA chance to show that no precedent's firmAnother opening of another…

  • By Donald Zuhn — After reflecting upon the events of the past twelve months, Patent Docs presents its eighth annual list of top patent stories.  For 2014, we identified eighteen stories that were covered on Patent Docs last year that we believe had (or are likely to have) the greatest impact on patent practitioners and…

  • By Andrew Williams — Earlier today, in Medtronic, Inc. v. Mirowski Family Ventures, LLC, the Supreme Court held that "when a licensee seeks a declaratory judgment against a patentee to establish that there is no infringement, the burden of proving infringement remains with the patentee."  Justice Breyer wrote the opinion for a unanimous Court, reversing…

  • 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…