The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued a memo providing examination guidance on the subject matter eligibility of the method of treatment claims. The memo discussed the recent Federal Circuit decision in Vanda Pharmaceutical Inc. v. West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, 887 F. 3d 1117 (Fed. Cir. 2018) and addressed the question of how to evaluate the patent eligibility of method of treatment claims in view of Vanda.
Before Moore, Wallach, and Taranto. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Summary: The Supreme Court’s decision in SAS Institute Inc. v. Iancu requires the Board in an instituted IPR proceeding to address all grounds for unpatentability raised in the IPR petition in its final written decision.
On May 30, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched an innovation challenge as a way to combat the fight against opioid addiction. The challenge was issued to “spur the development of medical devices, including digital health technologies and diagnostic tests that could provide novel solutions to detecting, treating and preventing addiction, addressing diversion and treating pain.”
On June 12, 2018, Johnson & Johnson announced acceptance of an offer from Platinum Equity, a private investment firm, to acquire its diabetic monitoring unit, LifeScan, for approximately $2.1 billion. In response to the acquisition, Platinum Equity Chairman and CEO Tom Gores said
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently updated its software Precertification Program. A working program was originally rolled out in April 2018, but the program was updated in response to requested public input. The FDA expects to roll out a finalized version of the program by December 2018 and to have a pilot test available in 2019.
Before Lourie, Dyk, and Taranto. Appeal from the District Court for the District of Delaware.
Summary: A passing reference in the prior art to a formulation containing the claimed active ingredient and the claimed administration route may not be sufficient to invalidate a claim.
Before the Supreme Court. Thomas delivered opinion, joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Alito, Sotomayor, and Kagan. Gorsuch dissenting, joined by Breyer.
Summary: Patentee may recover foreign lost profits, where infringer violated § 271(f)(2) by exporting from the United States a component of a patented invention.
In recent years, market interest in meat substitutes has aligned with advances in cell culture techniques to support the emergence of lab-grown meat or ”cultured meat” as an alternative to farm-grown meat products. A product of either bulk cell culture or 3D scaffolded cell culture, cultured meat is made by growing animal-derived cells in an artificial environment, and triggering their differentiation into muscle cells in order to produce artificial muscle tissue that can then be harvested and eaten.
Moldex-Metric, Inc. filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against McKeon Products. Moldex-Metric asserted that McKeon infringed its unregistered trade dress consisting of a bright green color for foam ear plugs by using a similar green color for ear plugs.
Before Prost, Moore, and Stoll. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
Summary: An IPR petitioner bears the burden of persuasion concerning the patentability of proposed substitute claims.
