Disclosure of gene from one bacterial source cannot support claims to gene from any bacterial source In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's grant of summary judgment of non-infringement and invalidity of various claims of three patents. The district court held no genuine issue of fact existed regarding noninfringement or invalidity under the written description requirement. The patents related to DNA polymerases, and the claims at issue […] Continue Reading →
Finding of inequitable conduct without considering materiality vacated In a decision on Friday, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's summary judgment of invalidity and noninfringement and subsequent finding of inequitable conduct. The court also vacated the district court's exceptional case finding and the associated award of attorney's fees.The plaintiff was initially awarded partial summary judgment of infringement of six patents. The district […] Continue Reading →
When exclusion order based on multiple patents, failure to appeal under each may render appeal moot In a decision last week, the Federal Circuit affirmed the United States International Trade Commission's finding of infringement and validity. The claims were brought under three patents that all claimed priority to a common parent application, and thus would ordinarily all expire on the same day. However, one of the three patents was subject to […] Continue Reading →
When priority not decided at PTO patentee bears burden of showing entitlement to earlier application In a decision Friday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's grant of summary judgment of invalidity with respect to all asserted claims of two patents. More particularly, the court held that the claims of the patents were not entitled to the priority date of an earlier-filed application, and were therefore anticipated by intervening prior […] Continue Reading →
Ex parte Kubin: Obviousness at the USPTO in biotechnology As mentioned previously, the BPAI designated an opinion as precedential today addressing the issues of obviousness, enablement, and the written description requirement in the context of biotechnology inventions. These issues were addressed in the context of patenting a gene involved in regulating the immune system. Addressing the obviousness issue, the board determined that the previous […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit approves MPEP guidelines for written description rejections The Federal Circuit addressed the standard applied by the USPTO for establishing a prima facie case of failure to meet the written description requirement in Hyatt v. Dudas today. The court found that compliance with MPEP § 2163.04(I)(B), by pointing out the nonexistence of support in the specification and identifying the claim limitation(s) at issue, […] Continue Reading →