On April 6, 2017 the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health formally approved 23andMe’s Personal Genome Services Test as a Class II Medical Device.

The Federal Circuit affirmed-in-part and reversed-in-part the PTAB’s final written decisions on Wasica’s tire pressure monitoring patents in Wasica Finance GmbH v. Continental Automotive Sys., Inc., No. 2015-2078 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 4, 2017).  The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s upatentability determinations based on certain claim constructions.

The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s final written decisions holding that claims directed to Novartis’s dementia drug Exelon were obvious in Novartis AG v. Noven Pharm. Inc., No. 2016-1679 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 4, 2017).

The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s final written decision holding that claims directed to Novartis’s multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya were obvious in Novartis AG v. Torrent Pharmaceuticals. Ltd., No. 2016-1352 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 12, 2017). Significantly, the Federal Circuit found that the PTAB’s use of a non-instituted reference in its final written decision was not improper.

On January 25, 2017, a panel of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) held that “Eleventh Amendment Immunity bars the institution of an inter partes review against an unconsenting state that has not waived sovereign immunity.”  Covidien LP v. Univ. of Florida Research Found. Inc., IPR2016-01274, IPR2016-01275, IPR2016-01276, Paper 21 at 27.

On March 24, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the term “red gold” may not be a generic term for jewelry and watches, and thus, may serve as a trademark.  Specifically, the Ninth Circuit found that there were questions of fact that needed to be decided by a jury as to whether the term was generic.

On March 28, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) in treating multiple sclerosis (MS). 

On March 27, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, Zejula (niraparib), for the maintenance treatment of recurrent ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer following complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy.

The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision in Amerigen Pharm. Ltd. v. Shire LLC, IPR2015-02009, Paper 38 (P.T.A.B. March 31, 2017) granting a rare motion to amend.  The motion canceled all instituted claims and amended a multiple dependent claim to depend only from non-instituted claims.

On March 31, 2017, Forever 21 was sued by Puma over its “Fenty” line of shoes.  The “Fenty” label has become popular, in part, due to the influence of music artist, Rihanna as the label’s brand ambassador.  In its complaint, Puma claims that it keeps the volume of the “Fenty” label products small and limits sales to increase the label’s desirability.