In a letter dated March 21, 2023, the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) again refused the request of petitioners to exercise march-in rights under the Bayh-Dole Act to control the price of a drug. Here, as before, the NIH found that the statutory criteria for the use of march-in rights…
Director Katherine Vidal of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) issued a precedential review decision with respect to the interpretation of multiple dependent claims, in a case of first impression before the Patent and Trial Appeal Board (“PTAB”). In the review of the PTAB’s final written Decision and Order,…
The Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) is set to begin on June 1, 2023. Under the UPC framework, a single court proceeding could result in simultaneous revocation of European Patents across multiple European Union (“EU”) countries, including France and Germany. A three-month “Sunrise Period” is set to begin March 1, 2023….
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) published a Notice in the Federal Register announcing a new pilot program entitled, “Cancer Moonshot Expedited Examination Pilot Program” (the “Cancer Moonshot Program”) (87 Fed. Reg. 75608 (December 9, 2022)) (the “Notice”) to attempt to further accelerate innovation in the health and medical…
After a recent reminder from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding the duties of disclosure and reasonable inquiry during examination of a patent application and a Request for Comments (RFC) on the USPTO initiatives to ensure “robustness and reliability” of patent rights,[1] the Director of the U.S. Patent…
The new Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Katherine Vidal, published a stern reminder regarding the duties of disclosure and reasonable inquiry during examination of a patent application, including reexamination, reissue, and proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) (87 FR 45764 (July 29, 2022)). …
President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, 86 FR 36987 (2021), expressed concerns about the patent system being misused to unnecessarily inhibit or delay entry of generic drugs or biologics to the marketplace for years, denying Americans access to lower cost drugs. The President called for…
On June 29, 2022, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that it was temporarily extending its Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program (”Patents 4 Patients” or “P4P”) to September 30, 2022, and also issued a request for public input on the P4P. Under the P4P, Applicants can file a…
Canadian Patent Examination Significant fee increases will be effective at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“CIPO”) on October 3, 2022 related to excess claims (claims over 20) and the number of examination reports it issues during prosecution. These changes may negatively impact the breadth of patent protection an applicant could…
Seven years after the Member States of the EU signed the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (“UPCA”), the Unitary Patent (“UP”) and the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) are likely to commence during the second half of 2022. This promises to bring significant changes to patent protections across Europe, potentially…
