This Is A Blog Post About A Patent Case

Posted on | December 2, 2008 | No Comments

2009-1023 Amgen v. ARIAD
D/DE 06-259
Judge Mary Pat Thynge

ARIAD appeals from the Orders of Judge Mary Pay Thynge granting Amgen summary judgment of non-infringement on ARIAD's US Patent No. 6,410,516.  This is the same patent, directed to inhibiting or reducing NF-κB activity in cells, that ARIAD successfully used against Lilly, reported here.

The Court's opinions begin, "This is a patent case."  While not as compact as "Call me Ishmael," it is still a classic opening line, although it probably should be limited to use in patent cases. 

Here are a few other great opening lines of literature with the potential for judicial use:

In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing.  Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It.  Maybe a separation of church and state case. 

The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there."  Truman Capote, In Cold Blood.  I guess pretty much any case from that tiny plot of Finney County.

It was a pleasure to burn.  Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451.  Arson.

A screaming comes across the sky.  Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow.  Struck by falling satellite or a catapult accident . . . hey, it happens.

Marley was dead, to begin with.
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.  A murder.  Of Marley preferably, just to have the sentence make sense. 

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of
lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.  James Joyce, Ulysses.  Um, a shaving mishap . . . on 16 June?

Of course, the best (or worst) may be from Paul Clifford by Edward George
Bulwer-Lytton:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at
occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind
which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies),
rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame
of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.  

Unlike the others, this has already been immortalized (parodied?) at least once in West's:

It was a dark and stormy night. A patchy, low-lying fog covered the
murky waters of the river and obscured the banks. Ships, passing in the
night, were but phantoms, vague outlines disappearing into the mist.
Ships' whistles, echoing across the dark expanse, seemed like mournful
cries from another world. Then suddenly, looming out of the darkness,
another ship appeared. The distance was too small; time too short;
before anyone could do more than cry out, the unthinkable occurred. The
ships collided. The tug, helpless, drifted downriver. Floundering like
some giant behemoth wounded in battle, the tanker came to ground and
impaled itself on some voracious underwater obstruction. And still the
whistles, echoing, seemed like cries from another world.

Judge John Brown in Allied Chemical Corp. v. Hess Tankship Co. of Delaware, 661 F.2d 1044 (5th Cir. 1981).

Where was I?  Oh yes, ARIAD.

Claim 6 of the '516 is representative:

A method for diminishing induced NF-κB-mediated intracellular signaling comprising reducing NF-κB activity in cells such that NF-κB-mediated intracellular signaling is diminished (emphasis by Court).

The court construed the claim to mean "taking action inside cells to directly inhibit (interfere or block) an NF-κB activity." [Emphasis added].  It was undisputed that the accused product, Enbrel, acts only extracellularly by binding with TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor-alpha) to prevent it from interacting with receptors on the surface of the target cell.

Having found non-infringement, the Court declined to consider Amgen's invalidity and unenforceability defenses and claims, dismissing them without prejudice.

More reading:

54(b) Order on Amgen's defenses

I am going to use some favorite opening lines from literature in the next few posts, regardless of whether they relate to the topics.  Just letting you know.

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