An argument could be made that one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions in U.S. patent law in the last thirty years was Dickinson v. Zurko. In that case the Court held that the Federal Circuit was bound by the...more
Patent claims reciting compounds where at least one group of a compound genus is defined by its function are common. For example, familiar claim terms such as “chelating moiety,” “linker,” and “binding moiety” describe a...more
Requesters should make sure to double cite to non-provisional and provisional if they require a provisional filing date for prior art....more
Numerous court decisions over the past decade – such as Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi from the US Supreme Court and Juno Therapeutics, Inc. et al. v. Kite Pharma, Inc. from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit – have called...more
While the genus antibody claim was effectively killed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Amgen v. Sanofi, it lives on in Europe despite a few recent setbacks at the European Patent Office ("EPO") and the Unified Patent Court...more
In 2023, a lawsuit that had wound its way through the judicial system for nearly 10 years finally had its day in the U.S. Supreme Court – and made waves in the biotechnology, chemical and pharmaceutical communities. Our...more
The availability of post-grant proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has changed the face of patent litigation. This periodic digest is designed to keep you up-to-date by highlighting interesting PTAB,...more
2023 saw a return to business as usual for the Federal Circuit. Oral arguments are once again in-person and open to the public, and the Court has resumed its former practice of holding occasional sittings outside of...more
The Supreme Court’s lone patent case from last term does not break new ground on enablement law. The Court’s core holdings—that a patent specification must enable the full scope of the claimed invention and therefore that...more
On January 10, 2024, the USPTO published guidelines for assessing enablement in view of Amgen v. Sanofi and other recent court cases (“the Guidelines”). The Guidelines state that they are not intended to “announce any major...more
On January 9, 2024, the USPTO published guidelines for its patent examiners when evaluating compliance with the enablement requirement in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Amgen Inc. et al. v. Sanofi et...more
On January 10, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued "Guidelines for Assessing Enablement in Utility Applications and Patents in View of the U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Amgen Inc. et al. v....more
On January 10, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published Guidelines, applicable to any technology, for ascertaining compliance with the enablement requirement in view of the U.S. Supreme Court...more
In light of the 2023 Supreme Court of the United States decision in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) published guidelines for PTO employees to use, regardless of technology, to ascertain compliance...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s May 2023 decision in Amgen, Inc. v. Sanofi (Amgen) sent shock waves through the patent world, particularly in the chemical and biotech segments, due to its invalidation of Amgen patents based on a...more
On January 10th, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a Notice in the Federal Register (89 Fed. Reg. 1563) regarding proposed Guidance on how the Office will apply the enablement requirement under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a)...more
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi, 598 U.S. 594 (2023) (Amgen), in which the Court addressed whether Amgen’s functional antibody genus claims satisfy the enablement requirement, the U.S....more
In Baxalta, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a summary judgment finding from the District of Delaware (Judge Timothy B. Dyk) that claims 1-4, 19 and 20 of Baxalta’s patent directed...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit invalidated yet another set of antibody genus claims, finding the case “materially indistinguishable” from those in the 2023 Supreme Court of the United States case, Amgen v....more
Section 112 of the patent statute, which in earlier years was something of a backwater in patent law, has had a tumultuous quarter century beginning with the Federal Circuit decision in Regents of the University of California...more
With only two precedential IP decisions coming down from the Federal Circuit in the second half of September, pickings were a little slim for blogging. That said, the opinion in Baxalta v. Genentech (2022-1461) — drafted by...more
In the aftermath of Amgen v. Sanofi, courts continue to invalidate genus claims for lacking enablement. Baxalta Incorporated v. Genentech Inc.2 shows that it is nearly impossible to meet the enablement requirement for claims...more
Baxalta Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., Appeal No. 22-1461 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 20, 2023) Our Case of the Week focuses on the enablement requirement. It’s the first case to come before the Federal Circuit following the Supreme...more
There has been, since the turn of the century, a steady, seemingly inexorable trend towards limiting patent rights and focusing the application of U.S. patent law towards an emphasis on preventing innovators from obtaining...more