To Hell In A Handbag: Patent Unenforceable, Plaintiff And Counsel Hit With Fees

2008-1539 Advanced Magnetic v. Romag FastenersSD/NY 98-cv-7766Judge Paul Crotty Plaintiff AMC appeals from the order of Judge Paul Crotty finding the case exceptional under § 285 and awarding attorney’s fees, and ruling AMC’s 5,572,773 patent unenforceable due to inequitable conduct.  The court also found litigation misconduct and AMC’s counsel jointly responsible for the attorney’s fees [...]

Judge Finds Scantibodies’ Own Tests Exonerate Immutopics

2008-1522 Scantibodies v. ImmunopicsCD/CA 04-8871Judge Mariana Pfaelzer Scantibodies appeals from the order of Judge Mariana Pfaelzer granting summary judgment of non-infringement to Immunopics.  The court did deny Immunopics’ motion with respect to best mode, enablement, on-sale and obviousness.  Scantibodies was asserting 6,689,566 directed to methods and devices for detecting whole or non-fragmented parathyroid hormone (PTH) [...]

Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa: So Long “Point of Novelty” Test

Here it is–hot off the wire.*  The Federal Circuit issued its en banc opinion in the Egyptian Goddess case this afternoon.  As many predicted, the "point of novelty" test is no more.  Instead, the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment based on "the ordinary observer test"–determining infringement "in light of the [...]

Drop And Give Me 271!

I am reporting from Boston today where I am attending the American Conference Institute’s FDA Boot Camp.  After years of various cases and matters (and blog posts) touching on different areas of pharma and medical device law, it was time to indulge in a formal and structured review of the area–besides, its one of my [...]

Judge Hammers Abbott’s Patent

2008-1511-1514 Therasense v. Becton, DicksonND/CA 04-02123 and other consolidated actionsJudge William Alsup Plaintiffs Therasense and Abbott appeal from the judgment of Judge William Alsup finding in favor of defendants that (i) claims 1-4 of 5,820,551 (co-owned by Abbott and Therasense) are invalid as obvious and (ii) the ’551 is unenforceable by reason of inequitable conduct. [...]

On The Radar: August 2008

So much for my raging optimism last month.  This week’s stock charts have more vertical drop than Aspen Mountain.  And while I’d rather watch a Caddyshack II/Howard The Duck double feature than another minute of CNBC, I just can’t look away.  In dire need of an escape, I decided to dial up last month’s patent [...]

Sealed Records, A Reporter’s View

Interest in patent infringement cases extends well beyond the specific parties involved.  Cases involving well known companies or products get covered in the Wall Street Journal and other large media sources, but even lesser known cases generate great interest in their industry: for example, Blackboard’s cases in on-line learning and the Wii controller in gaming [...]

Grantley Downs Clear Channel

2008-1508 Grantley Patent Holdings v. Clear ChannelED/TX 06-cv-259Judge Ron Clark Clear Channel appeals from the judgment and orders of Judge Ron Clark confirming the jury’s verdict that Clear Channel willfully infringed Grantley’s patents and that the patents were not invalid or unenforceable.  With enhanced damages (+25% of damages), prejudgment interest and other add-ons, Clear Channel [...]

Court Zaps The Cardinal’s PCR HIV Patents

2008-1509, 1510 Leland Stanford Junior University v. RocheND/CA 05-04158Judge Marilyn Hall Patel Stanford appeals from the summary judgment opinion of Judge Marilyn Hall Patel finding that its 5,968,730; 6,503,705 and 7,129,041 patents invalid as obvious under § 103.  The patents involve correlating measurements of HIV nucleic acids obtained via a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay [...]

More On Filing Under Seal In ED Texas

Following our recent post on filing documents under seal in the Eastern District of Texas, ED Texas attorney, blogger and expert Michael Smith of EDTexweblog.com posted some comments as well as providing background on the process. I ask Michael if I could re-publish it as a post so that everyone could get the benefit of [...]