In the mid-2000s, the U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) determined that reexaminations would be more consistent and legally correct if performed by a centralized set of experienced and specially trained Examiners. As a result, the...more
Addressing the calculation of patent term extensions (PTEs) under the Hatch-Waxman Act, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court decision that under the act the issue date of the original...more
On March 13, 2025, the Federal Circuit decided in Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. v. Aurobindo Pharma USA, Inc. (No. 2023-2254) how patent term extensions (PTEs) apply to reissued patents under the Hatch-Waxman Act....more
The Federal Circuit heard oral argument in Auribundo's appeal of the district court's decision in favor of plaintiff Merck, in a case captioned In re Sugammadex (alternatively, Aurobindo v. Merck Sharp and Dohme). The issue...more
Takeaways: 1. ODP in reexamination and reissue remains unpredictable despite Allergan 2. Patent Owners should carefully review ODP rejections to ensure they are proper Obviousness-type double patenting (ODP) is a legal...more
The Federal Circuit denied Cellect, LLC's petition for rehearing en banc of the In re Cellect case, which held that the expiration of a patent for obviousness-type double patenting ("ODP") purposes is the expiration date...more
The Federal Circuit appeal in Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V., Merck Sharp & Dohme, LLC v. Aurobindo Pharma USA, Inc. et al., concerns whether patent term extension (PTE) for regulatory delay, in particular delay for FDA drug...more
Case Name: In re Sugammadex, No. 20-CV-2576 (CCC/LDW), 2023 WL 3966146 (D.N.J. June 13, 2023) (Cecchi, J.) Drug Product and Patent(s)-in-Suit: Bridion® (sugammadex sodium); U.S. Patent No. RE44,733 (“the ’733 patent”)....more
IPR Petitioners Must Be Permitted to Respond to Claim Constructions First Proposed in Patent Owner Response - In Axonics, Inc. v. Medtronic, Inc., Appeal No. 22-1532, the Federal Circuit held that where a patent owner in...more
Gain a comprehensive understanding of Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA essentials, a critical competency for legal and business professionals in the biopharmaceutical arena. Attend ACI’s Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA Proficiency Series...more
Addressing for the first time how patent term adjustments (PTAs) interact with obviousness-type double patenting (ODP), the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that when members of a patent family have...more
Last week, the Federal Circuit held that obviousness-type double patenting trumps patent term adjustment, opening the door for invalidity attacks that to date had been questionable. In re Cellect was an appeal from a...more
Allele v. Pfizer – The Basics. On April 23, 2021 Pfizer, Inc., BioNTechSE, and BioNTech US, Inc. (“Pfizer and BioNTech”) filed a joint reply supporting of their previously filed motion to dismiss a patent infringement...more
Case Name: Biogen Int’l GmbH v. Banner Life Sciences LLC, No. 18-2054-LPS, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3639 (D. Del. Jan. 7, 2020) (Stark, J.)....more
In 1984, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) shepherded a grand legislative compromise through Congress that balanced the rights and solved inefficient regulatory consequences for both branded and generic...more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. v. Plano Encryption Technologies LLC, Appeal No. 2016-2700 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 7, 2018) On Friday, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of a...more
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued two opinions on December 7 that address two unsettled questions relating to obviousness-type double patenting (OTDP). These issues are of particular interest to...more
The Federal Circuit recently issued a pair of decisions concerning the Gilead doctrine, which allowed later-issuing patents to be obviousness-type double patenting (ODP) references against earlier-issuing patents....more