Patent Baristas

Rep. Xavier Becerra from Southern California, and Rep. Dave Weldon of Florida have introduced the Genomic Research and Accessibility Act, a bill that would end the practice of patenting any and all portions of the human genome. They point out that the Human Genome Project has led to the discovery of approximately 35,000 genes and […]

FedCirc.us, the new, new thing from the RethinkIP guys (Matt/Doug/Steve), has announced their latest creation, The Resolution. It’s a quarterly magazine, The FedCirc.us Reader, and the first issue is available as a free preview issue (Download the .pdf here). I took a look at this item thinking it would be a nice, little four-pager with a […]

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied a petition to rehear by Apotex asking the Federal Circuit to reconsider a ruling that Apotex is barred from selling its generic version of the anticlotting drug Plavix while Apotex continues its five-year patent lawsuit with Sanofi-Aventis. The trial began this week with […]

A recent article in The Scientist criticized the results from university technology transfer offices (TTOs). The article points to researchers who have discoveries that they believe have commercial promise but who run into “a proverbial brick wall” with the TTO. One researcher said “the TTO failed to recognize the potential value, balked at the cost […]

After the Supreme Court decision in MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., et al. (S.Ct. No. 05–608) , licensees would now seem to have a chance to get out of bad license deals by challenging the validity of the underlying patents. This case asked whether companies can sue to invalidate another’s patent even when they don’t […]

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a meeting to discuss the topic of reverse payments in a session entitled, “Paying Off Generics to Prevent Competition with Brand Name Drugs: Should It Be Prohibited?” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is chairman of the committee. Some of the witnesses are Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, […]

The Supreme Court added a little sizzle to the life of patent licenses with its decision in Medimmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., et al. (S.Ct. No. 05–608). The ruling could give licensees a chance to get out of bad license deals by challenging the validity of the underlying patents. The case asked whether companies can […]

Reliant Pharmaceuticals has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware against Par Pharmaceutical for infringement of U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,588. The ‘588 patent, which expires in 2014, relates to Reliant’s Rythmol® SR (propafenone) product. The ‘588 Patent is listed in the Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (“Orange […]