Intellectual Property Law

If no anticompetitive effect outside exclusionary zone of patent, reverse payment OK in ANDA cases

By McKee, Voorhees & Sease, P.L.C.

In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit upheld the district court's grant of summary judgment in an antitrust case.  At issue was whether reverse payments (from the patentee to the accused infringer) in the context of the Hatch-Waxman Act violated antitrust laws.  The Federal Circuit observed that "[t]he essence of the inquiry is whether the agreements restrict competition beyond the exclusionary zone of the patent," and that "in the absence of evidence of fraud before the PTO or sham litigation, the court need not consider the validity of the patent in the antitrust analysis of a settlement agreement involving a reverse payment."  Based on this standard, the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment of no antitrust violation.

More detail of In re Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litig. after the jump.

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Full post as published by FileWrapper on October 29, 2008 (boomark / email).