USPTO Issues Memorandum re Recent Subject Matter Eligibility Decisions
On November 2nd, the USPTO issued new guidance to Patent Examiners regarding § 101 subject matter eligibility. The memorandum provides guidance based on Federal Circuit decisions issued since the Office's most recent, May 2016, update. The four page letter includes...
PTAB Declines to Institute IPR Proceedings Against Three Biogen TYSABRI® Formulation Patents
By: Irina Britva and Patrick Elsevier On October 17, 2016, the PTAB declined the requests of Swiss Pharma International AG (“Swiss Pharma”) in cases IPR2016-00912, IPR2016-00915, and IPR2016-00916 to institute inter partes reviews (“IPRs”) of three patents owned by...
Claim Construction Defeats CFAD’s Bid To Invalidate Patent On Controlled Release Compositions of 5-ASA
By J. Jason Williams and J. Patrick Elsevier, Ph.D. In an October 5, 2016, Final Written Decision, the PTAB denied Coalition For Affordable Drugs II LLC’s (“CFAD’s”) request to invalidate a patent held by Cosmo Technologies Ltd. (“Cosmo”) that covers its commercial...
PTAB Invalidates Patent Claims on Gattex® Formulation
By Wanli Tang, Ph.D. and J. Patrick Elsevier, Ph.D. On October 21, 2016, the PTAB issued two final written decisions in cases IPR2015-00990 and IPR2015-01093, invalidating claims 1-27, 31-40, 44-52 and 61-75 of U.S. Patent 7,056,886. These decisions mark the first...
Federal Circuit Confirms Reach of Supreme Court’s Cuozzo Decision
By Joe Beauchamp On October 20, 2016 the Federal Circuit reaffirmed its earlier order in Medtronic, Inc. v. Robert Bosch Healthcare Sys., Inc. In its original order dismissing the appeal, the Federal Circuit held that it had no jurisdiction over the appeal. The...