On August 13, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a welcomed decision to patentees in Allergan USA, Inc. v. MSN Laboratories Private Ltd., No. 24-1061 (Fed. Cir. 2024) clarifying the scope of...more
The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act (APPA) of 2023 unanimously passed the Senate on July 11, 2024. The APPA was first introduced to the House on January 30, 2023 by Representative John Cornyn (R-Tx), with the aim of...more
Standards for patenting antibodies have substantially tightened over the last few years restricting scope of antibody claims—or, in some cases, undermining the validity of granted patents. Most recently, Singapore updated...more
Recently, the Federal Circuit addressed a significant issue of first impression with respect to obviousness-type double patenting (ODP), holding that ODP applies to patent claims that claim priority to the same application...more
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Amgen v. Sanofi puts a spotlight on enablement of functionally defined claims. Future developments may shed light on a number of remaining questions for patent applicants. Here are five...more
Last week, the USPTO released its 2022‒2026 Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan outlines the USPTO’s overarching goals for the coming years. How are these initiatives likely to affect patent applicants and owners?...more
In a recent press release, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that, starting on April 18, 2023, the Office would begin issuing electronic patent grants (eGrants) to patent recipients....more
In ChromaDex Inc. v. Elysium Health Inc., the Federal Circuit found U.S. Patent No. 8,197,807 (the “’807 patent”), which is directed to a dietary supplement comprising an isolated vitamin, invalid for lack of subject matter...more
Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) is additional patent term for U.S. patents to compensate for delay in issuance. The statute (35 U.S.C. § 154(b)) provides three bases for PTA: delayed response by the USPTO (“A delay”), failure to...more
The standard for written description in the life sciences seems to have tightened lately, leading patent applicants to wonder what level of written support and working example data is necessary to support genus claims....more
If your limited attention is diverted this week because of March Madness, never fear! We’ve got you covered at Federal Circuitry, where we’re always tracking the latest news at the Federal Circuit. Below we provide our usual...more
Patent term extension (PTE) provides additional patent term for patents related to U.S. pharmaceutical products to compensate for the effective loss of patent term caused by delay during the drug approval process by the U.S....more
Starting February 1, 2022, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will begin inviting selected applicants to participate in a pilot program to defer subject matter eligibility examination until final disposition of the...more
Genus claims have long been an important component of patent strategy, extending coverage around a lead compound to stop would-be competitors. Recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, however, highlight a tightening...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published the latest revision to its Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) on June 30, 2020. According to the Executive Summary, in this revision, nearly all of the...more