Patent Baristas

A U.S. District Court jury in Delaware yesterday dealt a blow to Boston Scientific Corp. finding that it infringed two cardiac stent patents of its main competitor in the field, Johnson & Johnson. BSX could be forced to pay damages to J&J although the exact amount will not be set until August at a separate […]

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider limiting antitrust suits against pharmaceutical companies, computer makers and other patent holders. The justices said they will hear an appeal by Illinois Tool Works Inc., which is trying to block a lawsuit over devices it sells for use in industrial printers. On Jan. 25, 2005, the U.S. Court […]

Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, L.P. (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) and Synaptech filed suit against Barr Laboratories Inc., for patent infringement relating to Razadyne (galantamine hydrobromide), 4 mg, 8 mg, and 12 mg Tablets, formerly Reminyl. The action was initiated under the Hatch-Waxman Act as an infringement of a patent on the compound that expires […]

While the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion did not extend the statutory research use exemption to patented research tools under 35 U.S.C. ss.271 (e)(1) in Merck KGaA v. Integra LifeSciences I, Ltd . (2005 WL 1386324 (U.S.)), the Court unanimously ruled for a broader interpretation of the exemption from patent infringement for use of a patented […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington today upheld an earlier decision that three patents held by Purdue Pharma LP can’t be enforced because of misrepresentations to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office about the painkiller’s effectiveness thus giving Endo Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc. the right to sell a generic version. OxyContin, […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Pfizer and other drug companies have the right to sell unbranded versions of their own drugs even if they undercut sales of generic competitors in a suit by Teva Pharmaceutical, which sought to stop Pfizer from selling its own generic version of […]

The IPKat posted a nice summary of the Tercica Inc v Avecia Ltd et al. case involving summary judgment motions on the validity of a patent having Swiss-type claims. The action concerned two applications for summary judgment in linked proceedings. In the first, Tercica, a licensee under a Genentech patent for a growth hormone, sued […]

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that a District Court judge committed a “clear error” when he concluded that Allergan’s patent on Acular was valid because it wasn’t an obvious variation of earlier known compounds. The Fed Circuit, saying there were necessary factors that weren’t considered, ordered him to […]