As we previously reported in the dispute brought by Janssen against Hospira and Celltrion regarding infliximab, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the 2015 and 2016 consolidated actions for lack of standing. In those actions, Janssen asserted infringement of the ‘083 patent (as well as other patents which were later dismissed or found invalid), and sought to enforce the patent dance provisions of the BPCIA. As we also previously reported, after the parties completed the patent dance, Janssen filed a new complaint on May 31 2017, asserting infringement of the ’083 patent.
Last week, pursuant to a Court order, the parties submitted a Joint Report . According to the Joint Report, Defendants agreed to Janssen’s request to dismiss the 2015 and 2016 actions, and Janssen agreed to provide a proposed stipulation of the dismissal for review. Janssen’s position is that the proceedings in the 2015 and 2016 actions should be made part of the 2017 action. The report further states that Defendants intend to move to dismiss the 2017 action, and it provides a proposed briefing schedule for doing so, with Defendants’ motion due July 7, 2017 and with a hearing mid-October 2017.
The Joint Report also addresses Defendants’ motion to compel, and briefly references the parties’ disagreement on scheduling further proceedings. In particular, Janssen argues that further proceedings should not be stayed pending resolution of the motion to dismiss and that damages discovery should begin immediately, while Defendants submit that the parties should not engage in fact discovery (or other aspects of the litigation) while the motion to dismiss is pending.
The parties have a conference tomorrow, June 21, 2017. The proposed agenda for the conference includes a status update on the resolution of discovery disputes, the motion to dismiss briefing schedule, and a schedule for further proceedings.