Routine Trial-and-Error Approach to Protein Formulation Is Not Sufficient to Establish Obviousness Absent a Reasonable Expectation of Success in Achieving the Claimed Formulation
By Raffaella Faraoni, Ph.D. and J. Patrick Elsevier, Ph.D. On December 22, 2016, in a final written decision in IPR2015-01537, the PTAB rejected an obviousness challenge brought by Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. against a patent owned by Bristol-Myers Squibb directed...
Federal Circuit Agrees to En Banc Rehearing on Whether PTAB’s 1-Year-Bar Decisions Are Reviewable
By Matt Johnson Today the Federal Circuit agreed to rehear en banc the panel decision in Wi-Fi One v. Broadcom Corp. on the issue of whether the PTAB's findings regarding 35 U.S.C. § 315(b)'s one year bar can be reviewed on appeal. This question tests the interplay...
PTAB Adds a Significant Body of Work in 2016
By Joe Sauer The Patent Trial and Appeal Board publishes monthly statistics tracking numerous aspects of AIA Petition filings and how they are resolved. The AIA Trial Statistics through the end of November 2016 are available here. Reviewing the data for 2016, the most...
PTAB Eyes Swear-Behind Evidence with Skepticism
By Matt Johnson On December 20th, the PTAB found inventor Seymour Levine’s attempt to rescue certain claims of his patent via a swear-behind declaration unsuccessful. Boeing Company v. Seymour Levine, IPR2015-01341, Final Written Decision (Dec. 20, 2016). Mr....
Connecting the Dots: Anticipation Requires More Than Listing Scattered Claim Elements
By Jeff Giering, Ph.D. and Cary Miller, Ph.D. On November 30, 2016, the PTAB issued decisions on the institution of inter partes reviews of U.S. Patent No. 6,667,061 (the ’061 patent), which relates to formulations for injectable suspensions having increased...