Search Results: Life Sciences Patent

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The Appeals Review Panel’s In Re Xencor Decision: The USPTO Provides Its Position on Written Description and Means-Plus-Function Claims

On May 17, 2024, an Appeals Review Panel (ARP) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) released its decision in Ex parte Chamberlain (referred to in Federal Circuit proceedings as In re Xencor; “Chamberlain”). The Chamberlain decision provides some clarity on the USPTO’s position on written description requirements for Jepson and means-plus-function claims in…

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Janssen v. Teva: Not an April Fool’s Day Joke for Life Sciences Companies

On April 1, 2024 the Federal Circuit released its opinion in Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. et al v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. et al., affirming the district court’s finding that certain claims were not indefinite and remanding to the district court to reevaluate its obviousness decision.  The Federal Circuit’s analysis provides important considerations for life…

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USPTO Emphasizes Searches of FDA Databases for Pharmaceutical Patent Applications

In response to Biden Administration goals regarding increasing pharmaceutical competition and lowering drug prices, the USPTO recently released training provided to the USPTO examining corps on utilizing publicly available FDA and NIH databases for prior art searches. The goal of the training is to ensure that all relevant prior art…

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USPTO’s New Guidance on AI-Assisted Inventions: The Impact on the Use of AI in the Life Sciences

On February 12, 2024, the US Patent Office and Trademark Office (USPTO) released the Inventorship Guidance for AI-assisted Inventions (the Guidance). We previously discussed the Guidance here. Following up on the Guidance, the USPTO released two examples illustrating what the USPTO considers proper inventorship analyses for AI-assisted inventions. Each example sets…

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Recent Bayh-Dole Act News: Comments on the Draft Framework; HHS Refuses to March-In on Xtandi; and Delayed Contracting Doesn’t Avoid Bayh-Dole

U.S. universities and academic institutions rely heavily on federal grants to fund their research and generate innovations in life sciences.  Universities often out-license patents protecting inventions created using federal funding to private companies including many startups.  Hundreds of drugs have been developed by collaboration between universities and private industry. The…

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Life Sciences Companies Make Up a Small Portion of the Companies Opting-In to the Unitary Patent; Ireland Announces Referendum Date

Life sciences companies continue to make up a small portion of the companies registering for Unitary Patents. Per the European Patent Office’s statistics portal, as of January 30, 2024 there have been 18,721 registered Unitary Patents. The Uptake Rate is 17.5%. Of this, Medical Technology companies account for 2,266 (or,…

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USPTO Publishes Enablement Guidelines in view of Amgen v. Sanofi

On January 10, 2024, the USPTO published guidelines for assessing enablement in view of Amgen v. Sanofi and other recent court cases (“the Guidelines”). The Guidelines state that they are not intended to “announce any major changes to USPTO practice or procedure” but instead “incorporat[e] guidance from the Amgen decision and several post-Amgen enablement court decisions that…

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Federal Circuit Remands to USPTO to Clarify Analysis of Jepson-Format and Means-Plus-Function Claims in the Field of Biotechnology

On January 23, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) issued its decision granting the USPTO’s request to remand Xencor’s appeal of the rejection of U.S. Patent App. No 16/803,690 (“’690 patent application”) back to the USPTO. The USPTO requested remand so that the USPTO’s Appeals…

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K-Fee Provides a Warning to Life Sciences Companies – What You Say in Foreign Prosecution May Affect Your U.S. Claim Scope

On December 26, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its decision in K-Fee System GMBH v. Nespresso USA, Inc. While nominally a case related to coffee makers, its teachings are highly applicable to life science companies as they tend to file large numbers of…

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