Patent Law

Conference & CLE Calendar

Posted on August 10, 2008
August 11-12, 2008 - Advanced Patent Prosecution Workshop 2008: Claim Drafting & Amendment Writing (Practising Law Institute) - San Francisco, CA August 10-15, 2008 - Advanced Courses (Patent Resources Group) - Washington, DC September 11, 2008 - Developments in Pharmaceutical and Biotech Patent Law (Practising Law Institute) - New York, NY September 11-12, 2008 - Current Issues in Complex IP Licensing (Law Seminars International) - Philadelphia, PA September 15-16, 2008 - Biotech Patents*** (American Conference Institute) September 21-23, 2008 - 2008 Annual Meeting (Intellectual Property Owners Association) - San Diego, CA September 22-23, 2008 - USPTO Boot Camp: Patent Edition***...

CBI Pharmaceutical Congress on Paragraph IV Disputes

Posted on August 09, 2008
The Center for Business Intelligence (CBI) will be holding its Pharmaceutical Congress on Paragraph IV Disputes on October 15-16 in Philadelphia, PA. The conference will cover important issues for both brand and generic companies during two days of presentations and panel discussions on litigation strategies, statutory guidelines, current cases, and their landmark decisions...

USPTO News: Enjoined Rule Will Not Be Applied Retroactively . . . If PTO Prevails in Tafas v. Dudas

Posted on August 08, 2008
By Donald Zuhn and Christopher P. Singer -- In a Notice published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2008 ("Clarification of Patent Regulations Currently in Effect, and Revision in Applicability Date of Provisions Relating to Patent Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims," 73 Fed...

Once Again, The New Yorker Gets It Wrong on Patents

Posted on August 08, 2008
By Kevin E. Noonan -- James Surowiecki is exercising his antipatent animus once again in the August 11th edition of The New Yorker. Mr. Surowiecki (at right) writes a weekly column called "The Financial Page" in the magazine, and he has shown that he doesn't like patents several times in his work...

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Predictions Dire for U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry

Posted on August 07, 2008
By Kevin E. Noonan -- EvaluatePharma, a London-based company providing forecasting and industry analysis to the biotech and pharma sector, released a report today predicting the big pharma landscape in 2014, based on industry trends, current and prospective drug pipelines, acquisitions and partnering and the predicted "patent cliff" that will occur as blockbuster drugs come "off-patent" and are subject to generic competition...

USPTO News: Patent Office Proposes Rules Limiting Facsimile Submission of Papers and Setting Font Size Requirement

Posted on August 07, 2008
By Christopher P. Singer -- In a Notice published in the Federal Register (73 Fed. Reg. 45662) on August 6, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proposes new rules that severely limit the types of papers that can be submitted to the Office by facsimile...

Public Interest Groups Back USPTO in Tafas v. Dudas Appeal

Posted on August 06, 2008
By Donald Zuhn -- Last week, the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) announced that a coalition of consumer advocacy and public interest groups had filed an amici brief in the Tafas v. Dudas appeal. The brief, which was signed by PUBPAT Executive Director Dan Ravicher (below left), was filed on behalf of PUBPAT, AARP, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Consumer Watchdog, Essential Action, Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), Prescription Access Litigation (PAL), Public Knowledge (PK), Research on Innovation (ROI), and the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC)...

Book Review: The Generic Challenge

Posted on August 05, 2008
Patent Docs provides two reviews for the price of one as Kevin Noonan and Donald Zuhn each discuss the second edition of Martin Voet's book "The Generic Challenge: Understanding Patents, FDA & Pharmaceutical Life-Cycle Management." By Kevin Noonan -- Martin A...

Court Report

Posted on August 03, 2008
By Sherri Oslick -- About Court Report: Each week we will report briefly on recently filed biotech and pharma cases, and a few interesting cases will be selected for periodic monitoring. Sepracor Inc. et al. v. Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. et al. 5:08-cv-00362; filed July 30, 2008 in the Eastern District of North Carolina Infringement of U...

Conference & CLE Calendar

Posted on August 03, 2008
August 5, 2008 - Intellectual Property Due Diligence and Audit Bootcamp (West Legalworks) - 1:00-2:00 PM (EDT) August 11-12, 2008 - Advanced Patent Prosecution Workshop 2008: Claim Drafting & Amendment Writing (Practising Law Institute) - San Francisco, CA August 10-15, 2008 - Advanced Courses (Patent Resources Group) - Washington, DC September 11, 2008 - Developments in Pharmaceutical and Biotech Patent Law (Practising Law Institute) - New York, NY September 11-12, 2008 - Current Issues in Complex IP Licensing (Law Seminars International) - Philadelphia, PA September 15-16, 2008 - Biotech Patents*** (American Conference Institute) September 21-23, 2008 - 2008 Annual Meeting...

JEC Holds Hearing on Drug Pricing; GPhA Lobbies for Follow-on Biologics Pathway

Posted on August 01, 2008
By Donald Zuhn -- Last week, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) (at right) convened a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), a bicameral Congressional Committee composed of ten members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives, to examine rising pharmaceutical prices and the impact of such price increases on the pharmaceutical market and patient medical bills...

USPTO News: EFS-Web 1.4 Enhancements Coming Soon

Posted on August 01, 2008
By Christopher P. Singer -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent out an e-Commerce update on July 31, 2008, notifying EFS users of enhancements that will be introduced with EFS-Web 1.4 (to be released on August 17, 2008). For one, users will be able to launch their e-mail programs in EFS-Web and send Acknowledgement Receipts and Pre-Acknowledgement Receipts to any desired address (such as a dedicated docketing e-mail address)...

West Legalworks IP Due Diligence CLE

Posted on August 01, 2008
West Legalworks will be offering an "Intellectual Property Due Diligence and Audit Bootcamp" audio webcast on August 5, 2008 from 1:00-2:00 PM (EDT). Lisa Brownlee, author of Intellectual Property Due Diligence in Corporate Transactions: Investment, Risk Assessment and Management, will provide an overview of the IP due diligence process, from the memorandum of understanding/letter of intent through the transaction document...

Patent Reform Critic Says Legislation Would Be Costly and Counterproductive

Posted on July 31, 2008
By Donald Zuhn -- In an article posted on the American.com website (the online version of The American magazine) on Tuesday, Dr. Aparna Mathur (at right), a Research Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, argues that now is the time to begin lobbying against the patent reform bill that was taken off the Senate calendar in April (see "Courting Trouble on Patents")...

FDA Makes Changes in Erythropoietin Labeling

Posted on July 31, 2008
By Kevin E. Noonan -- The Food and Drug Administration posted a notice on its website today that further restricts prescription of two erythropoietin drugs (Amgen's Epogen®/Aransesp® and Johnson & Johnson's Procrit®) to cancer patients. The notice is part of the FDA's ongoing safety review of these drugs, and is a "follow-up" to a January 3, 2008 Official Communication...

TauRx Therapeutics and University of Aberdeen Present Data on Potential Alzheimer's Drug

Posted on July 31, 2008
By Christopher P. Singer -- In a July 29, 2008 presentation at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2008) in Chicago, scientists involved in a collaboration between the University of Aberdeen and TauRx Therapeutics discussed data demonstrating that their candidate drug, rember, appears to slow the progress of the Alzheimer's disease...

Deputy Director Peterlin Announces Resignation

Posted on July 30, 2008
By Kevin E. Noonan -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced today that Margaret Peterlin, Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO will resign from her post some time in August. Deputy Director Peterlin (at left) has been a controversial figure in the Office, in part because she apparently lacked qualifications long thought to be required for senior Patent Office management positions, and for her association with several of the controversial "new rules" packages promulgated by the Dudas regime...

Managing Intellectual Property Releases MIP 50

Posted on July 29, 2008
By Donald Zuhn -- Managing Intellectual Property has released its sixth annual list of the most influential people in intellectual property (see "Politics, power and passion -- this year's MIP 50"). The MIP 50 appears in the magazine's July/August issue, and can also be found on the magazine's website (access to the online article requires a subscription or trial membership)...

USPTO News: EFS-Web Customer Satisfaction Survey & New Online Contact Information System for Practitioners

Posted on July 26, 2008
By Christopher P. Singer -- EFS-Web Survey The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is conducting a customer satisfaction survey relating to the experiences that registered users have had with EFS-Web. The deadline for filling out the survey is 11:30 p.m...

ACI Paragraph IV on Trial Conference

Posted on July 26, 2008
American Conference Institute (ACI) will be holding its Paragraph IV on Trial conference on November 19-20, 2008 in New York. At this conference, patent litigators experienced in representing both generic and brand name drug manufacturers will work through a mock trial based on a real world ANDA filing...

C5 Biotech Patenting Conference

Posted on July 26, 2008
C5 (UK) will be holding its Biotech Patenting conference on September 23-24, 2008 in London, England. The conference will allow attendees to: ? Analyze the practical impact of recent changes at the UK-IPO, EPO, and USPTO; ? Increase knowledge of developments in follow-on biologics and antibody technologies in the patent area; ? Manage the challenges posed by the conflicting legal approaches to gene patenting; ? Establish a successful global patent strategy and successfully protect biotech patents in China and India; ? Get the latest information on second medical use claims; and ? Tackle inventorship and patent entitlement disputes...

USPTO News: PTO Issues Notice on Scope of Foreign Filing Licenses

Posted on July 24, 2008
By Christopher P. Singer -- In a Notice published in the Federal Register (73 Fed. Reg. 42781) on Wednesday, July 23, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office discussed the general scope of the foreign filing licenses that it issues. While the Notice states that it serves to clarify the existing law and regulations, the USPTO was motivated to publish it in light of the Office "becoming aware that a number of law firms or service provider companies located in foreign countries are sending solicitations to ...

IPO Reports on Rising RCE Filings

Posted on July 24, 2008
By Donald Zuhn -- The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) reported today on data compiled by Esther Kepplinger, the Director of Patent Operations for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, which the IPO believes "has received little attention and has contributed to misunderstanding of patenting trends...

USPTO News: PTO Extends and Expands Peer Review Pilot

Posted on July 24, 2008
By Christopher P. Singer -- In a July 16, 2008 press release, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced it will extend the duration, increase the maximum number of applications, and expand the scope of applications eligible to participate in its Peer Review Pilot program...

USPTO Files Opening Brief in Tafas v. Dudas Appeal

Posted on July 23, 2008
By Donald Zuhn and Benjamin Huber -- Last Friday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and USPTO Director Jon Dudas filed their opening brief in the Tafas v. Dudas appeal. As we previously reported, the Patent Office and Director Dudas had until July 18th (i...

Eisai Co. v. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2008)

Posted on July 22, 2008
By Kevin E. Noonan -- Sanity may be returning to the Federal Circuit's treatment of two issues, obviousness and inequitable conduct. In Eisai Co. v. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Inc., the Court (in an opinion by Judge Rader joined by Judges Linn and Proust) affirmed the District Court's determination that the patent-in-suit, U...

More on USPTO Rulemaking Practices

Posted on July 22, 2008
By Donald Zuhn -- Yesterday, we reported on the Patent Office's publication of a Notice in the Federal (73 Fed. Reg. 32559) requesting that interested members of the public comment on the Office's estimates for any additional burdens imposed on applicants by the new appeals rules...

USPTO Rulemaking Practices Being Called into Question (Again)

Posted on July 21, 2008
By Kevin E. Noonan and Donald Zuhn -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has attempted (with varying levels of success) to implement a number of new rules packages in the past two years, including new continuation and claims rules, alternative claiming rules, and IDS rules, but none of these rules packages has been implemented as yet...

Court Report

Posted on July 20, 2008
By Sherri Oslick -- About Court Report: Each week we will report briefly on recently filed biotech and pharma cases, and a few interesting cases will be selected for periodic monitoring. Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. et al. v. Actavis South Atlantic LLC 2:08-cv-03482; filed July 11, 2008 in the District Court of New Jersey Infringement of U...

Conference & CLE Calendar

Posted on July 20, 2008
July 24-25, 2008 - Advanced Patent Prosecution Workshop 2008: Claim Drafting & Amendment Writing (Practising Law Institute) - New York, NY August 11-12, 2008 - Advanced Patent Prosecution Workshop 2008: Claim Drafting & Amendment Writing (Practising Law Institute) - San Francisco, CA August 10-15, 2008 - Advanced Courses (Patent Resources Group) - Washington, DC September 11, 2008 - Developments in Pharmaceutical and Biotech Patent Law (Practising Law Institute) - New York, NY September 11-12, 2008 - Current Issues in Complex IP Licensing (Law Seminars International) - Philadelphia, PA September 15-16, 2008 - Biotech Patents*** (American Conference Institute) September 21-23, 2008...

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