Patent Baristas

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision that Janssen Pharmaceutica NV’s patent covering a method for treating Alzheimer’s disease was invalid after it was attacked by a whole gaggle of generic-drug companies. In a 2-1 decision, the Federal Circuit agreed with the district court’s decision that Janssen’s patent was invalid […]

Teva was unable to show inequitable conduct in its attempt to get AstraZeneca’s U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,288 declared invalid when the district court ruled that there wasn’t sufficient evidence that, in prosecution of the subject patent application in the Patent and Trademark Office, AstraZeneca made a misrepresentation of material fact or an omission of material […]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register inviting public comment regarding the Requirements for Patent Applications Containing Nucleotide Sequence and/or Amino Acid Sequence Disclosures (74 Fed. Reg. 40163). Patent applications that contain nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence disclosures must include a copy of the sequence listing in accordance with […]

The infamous Troll Tracker suit has come to an end.  As we reported, Rick Frenkel, the anonymous blogger of the Troll Tracker blog who revealed his identity, along with his employer Cisco, were sued for defamation by two attorneys from Texas, Eric Albritton and T. John “Johnny” Ward, Jr. The lawsuit was over a posting […]

An Australian Federal Court decision provides a reminder to diligently review issued patent claims in view of newly-emerged prior art before filing suit.  Apotex Pty Ltd v Les Laboratoires Servier (No 2) [2009] FCA 1019. In the suit, there was a corresponding British patent which had been held invalid in view of certain prior art. […]

University of Tennessee (UT) Professor John Reece Roth, 72, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for violating the Arms Export Control Act by conspiring to illegally export, and actually exporting, technical information relating to a U.S. Air Force (USAF) research and development contract. (See indictment here) Prof. Roth was convicted by […]

The Prometheus  v. Mayo case, what Hal Wegner calls “Metabolite déjà vu II,” has represented perhaps the most troubling development for medical treatment patents in recent times.  The case concerns a patent for a means to measure the level of 6-thioguinine (6-TG) and 6-methylmercaptopurine (6-MMP), which indicates that an adjustment in drug dosage may be […]

After Amgen tried to get a judgment against Hoffman-La Roche that Roche’s product, MIRCERA®, would infringe Amgen’s five patents if imported into the United States, Roche tried to get the patents invalidated. Amgen v. Hoffman-La Roche (09-1020, -1096). The patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 5,441,868, 5,547,933, 5,618,698, 5,756,349, and 5,955,422, relate to the production of erythropoietin […]