As we’ve reported on previously, Allergan, Inc. assigned its rights to patents covering its Restasis® dry eye treatment to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe (“Tribe”) and simultaneously licensed back those patents in exchange for the Tribe’s agreement to invoke tribal sovereign immunity in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the…
Yesterday, in Ericsson Inc. v. Regents of the University of Minnesota, an expanded 7-judge PTAB panel ruled that a patent owner waives a claim to sovereign immunity in an IPR “by filing an action in federal court alleging infringement of the patent being challenged in [the IPR] proceeding.” The PTAB…
We post frequently about IPRs here on the blog, because they are an efficient and relatively quick way to get a decision on validity of the patents that cover drugs, biologic or otherwise. In Merck & Cie v. Gnosis S.p.A., the Supreme Court denied certiorari after the Federal Circuit affirmed that the standard…
Although we typically focus our posts on biosimilar-specific issues, we wanted to highlight a recent IPR-related filing that is likely of interest to many of our readers. <p=>The scope of estoppel that attaches to a petitioner (and petitioner’s privies and all real parties in interest) in a later district court litigation under…
On January 4, 2017, the Federal Circuit granted a motion for en banc rehearing in Wi-Fi One LLC v. Broadcom Corp., No. 2015-1944. In the original Wi-Fi One decision, the court held that, due to binding precedent, it could not review the PTAB’s decision to institute IPR over the Patent Owner’s assertions that the petition…
Law360 has published an article by contributing editors here at Big Molecule Watch. The article, titled “IPR Estoppel Takes Shape,” looks at recent cases that discuss the scope of estoppel stemming from inter partes review proceedings. Click here for a link to the article.
The Federal Circuit will rehear en banc the appeal In re: Aqua Products, Inc., No. 2015-1177 to address whether the PTAB’s rules requiring the Patent Owner to demonstrate the patentability of proposed amended claims are consistent with the statute permitting claim amendment during an IPR challenge, 35 U.S.C. 316(d) and (e). A…
Check out our updated Inter Partes Review page with information about all of the IPRs filed on biologic products, including the patent challenged, product that may be covered by the patent, patent owner, challenger, IPR status, and links to the important documents. You can reach this page easily by clicking…
Today, the PTAB instituted IPR proceedings on claims 1-5 of U.S. Patent No. 8,889,135, drawn to a method of treating a rheumatoid arthritis patient with a TNFα-inhibitor. Humira®, marketed by Abbvie, is allegedly covered by the claims of the ’135 patent. The IPR petition was filed by Coherus Biosciences, Inc….