Patent Law Weblog
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- To Require an Inventor ID, or Not to Require an Inventor ID – That Is the Question
- Federal Circuit Refuses to Switch District Court’s Finding for Nintendo
- Supreme Court to Resolve Dispute Over Marketing of “Skinny Labeled” Generics
- Solicitor General Proves Persuasive; Supreme Court Grants Hikma’s Certiorari Petition
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Category: Supreme Court
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Supreme Court decided Bilski v. Kappos today and, as anticipated, agreed with the Federal Circuit that Bilski's claims to methods for "hedging" risk in commodities trading are not patent-eligible subject matter. After that, the opinion elevates the analysis to nothing short of advanced tea-leaf reading (including ample evidence…
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By Donald Zuhn — In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) recalled the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Diamond v. Chakrabarty, which was issued thirty years ago on June 16, 1980. In Chakrabarty, the Court determined (by a 5-4 vote) that a genetically engineered Pseudomonas bacterium capable of breaking…
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By Donald Zuhn — On New Year's Eve, we kicked off our third annual list of top biotech/pharma stories by counting down the first three of the top ten stories covered on Patent Docs in 2009 (see "Top Stories of 2009: #10, #9, and #8"). Today, we count down stories #7, #6, and #5,…
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By Donald Zuhn — Earlier this month, Donald Chisum (at right), who for the past 31 years has authored the patent treatise Chisum on Patents, was in Chicago to give a luncheon presentation on recent patent law developments to a group of local practitioners. Mr. Chisum, who was professor of law at the University…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The highest form of tea leaf-reading is guessing how the Supreme Court will rule based on oral argument. Yet occasionally the Court's questioning suggests general trends and tendencies, and today's argument in Bilski v. Kappos may be one of those times. The claims at issue are directed to a…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) held a media briefing on Federal policy issues today, with most of BIO's executive staff assembling at BIO headquarters in Washington, D.C. In addition to the media present on site, BIO hosted several more members of the press by teleconference. Jim Greenwood (at left),…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court last week in Bilski v. Doll, the appeal from the Federal Circuit's en banc decision establishing the "machine or transformation" test as the exclusive test for patent eligibility of process claims. BIO was joined on the…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Supreme Court today granted certiorari to the patent applicants in the In re Bilski case, an en banc decision from the Federal Circuit last fall. In doing so, the Court continued its recent history of more direct supervision of the Federal Circuit, a decision made more notable by…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Supreme Court handed down its decision in Wyeth v. Levine today, and in a 6-3 decision, declared that the labeling regulations and decisions by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not preempt state tort liability based on "failure-to-warn" and strict liability theories. As Justice Alito noted (albeit…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Supreme Court was petitioned today to grant certiorari in two cases important to biotechnology patenting: In re Bilski, involving the standard for determining that method claims are patentable subject matter; and Aventis Pharma S.A. v. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, regarding the standard for finding inequitable conduct. And in each case,…
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