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John R. Labbé

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Trial lawyer and patent attorney John Labbé represents clients in intellectual property disputes in federal and state courts across the country. He has broad experience in patent litigation involving biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, cable television and data services, and e-commerce. John’s engagements have included a trial victory in a patent ownership suit, representation of biotechnology companies in numerous patent infringement matters, management of multiple patent infringement actions for one of the nation’s largest cable television providers, and representation of clients in trademark infringement suits. Read full bio here.

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As we’ve previously reported, patent owners have had little success arguing secondary considerations of non-obviousness during inter partes review. Underscoring the challenge that patent owners face, the Federal Circuit recently affirmed a PTAB obviousness determination despite finding that it had erred in its consideration of the patent owner’s evidence regarding objective indicia of non-obviousness.
Continue Reading Secondary Considerations Error Does Not Warrant Reversal

FistShort of invalidating a patent, can the outcome of IPR dictate the outcome of a district court case? The interplay between PTAB and district courts remains uncertain. As we’ve previously reported here and here, sometimes district courts give weight to PTAB decisions, and sometimes they don’t.
Continue Reading Denial of IPR Institution Doesn’t Make Invalidity Case Unreasonable

The pharmaceutical industry continues its efforts to exempt pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents from inter partes reviewBalance Scale (IPR). Neither the House’s Innovation Act nor the Senate’s PATENT Act currently contain any provisions that would exempt particular patents from these proceedings. But as we reported in June, some members of the Senate judiciary committee appear sympathetic to addressing the pharmaceutical industry’s concerns with an exemption for pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents.
Continue Reading Pharma industry continues efforts to exempt patents from IPR

On June 11, 2015, the PTAB denied institution of Cepheid’s petition seeking inter partes review of Patent No. 5,643,723 directed to methods of detecting tuberculosis in humans (IPR2015-00255). To defeat institution, the patent owner successfully used its preliminary response to persuade the Board to (a) narrowly construe claim terms (despite the broadest-reasonable-construction standard), and (b) reject inherent anticipation and obviousness arguments offered by the petitioner’s expert witness.
Continue Reading PTAB Denies Institution in Cepheid v. Roche: PCR Primers Found Not Inherently Anticipated

On Thursday, June 4, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship (PATENT) Act. We previously reported the significant provisions of the bill.

Several members of the Judiciary Committee expressed support for a further proposal that would exempt from PTO post-grant proceedings patents that are subject to the Hatch-Waxman or Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) processes. In his prepared statement, Senator Grassley, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee said:
Continue Reading Hatch-Waxman and BPCIA Patents May Be Exempted from Post-Grant Proceedings Under Pending Senate Legislation

Resources & Info

Arthrex and the Supreme Court Resource Center

In United States v. Arthrex, Inc., the Supreme Court has heard whether 125+ PTAB decisions rendered through October 2019 must be remanded for new decisions. Read about how that issue developed through our post.

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Our Team

PTABWatch, provided by Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP, analyzes and reports recent developments concerning Post-Grant Proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), including Inter Partes Review (IPR), Post Grant Review (PGR), and Covered Business Method (CBM) proceedings.