By Memorandum Order entered by The Honorable Colm F. Connolly in Genentech, Inc. et al. v. Amgen, Inc., Civil Action No. 17-1407-CFC, Consol. (D.Del. February 12, 2020), the Court denied Defendant’s motion for leave to amend its First Amended Answer, Affirmative Defenses and Counterclaims to add an affirmative defense and counterclaim that U.S. Patent No. 8,574,869 (“the ‘869 Patent”) is unenforceable due to Plaintiff’s inequitable conduct before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“the PTO”). The Court denied the motion for leave to amend after finding that (1) the “good cause” standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b) applied to the motion to amend as opposed to the standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a); and (2) Plaintiff, by its own admission, had the ability in July 2019 to plead with particularity the alleged inequitable conduct defense and counterclaim but unduly delayed by waiting until September 2019 to seek leave to add that defense and counterclaim. Id. at *2-3. Thus, the Court found that Plaintiff failed to show good cause for its delay and denied the motion. Id.
A copy of the Memorandum Order is attached.
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