On June 19, 2015 the District Court for the Middle District of Florida denied Defendants’ motion in limine requesting the exclusion of evidence relating to a denial of an IPR institution from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Stoneeagle Services, Inc. v. Pay-Plus Solutions, Inc. et al, 8-13-cv-02240 (FL MD)). This decision contradicts recent decisions in other jurisdictions in which the results of IPR decisions have not been allowed in District Court actions (see Interdigital Commc’ns, Inc. v. Nokia Corp., No. 13-10-RGA,2014 WL 8104167 (D. Del. Sept. 19, 2014) and Ultratec, Inc. et al. v. Sorenson Communications, Inc., No. 3:13-CV-00346 (W.D. Wisc. Oct. 8, 2014 ).
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Institution / Denial
PTAB Denies Institution in Cepheid v. Roche: PCR Primers Found Not Inherently Anticipated
By John R. Labbé on
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.
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Is the Coalition for Affordable Drugs Abusing the IPR Process?
The PTAB granted leave on June 9 for the patent owner, Celgene Corporation, to file a motion for sanctions seeking dismissal in several IPRs¹ filed by the Coalition for Affordable Drugs. The Coalition for Affordable Drugs, an organization created by the hedge fund Hayman Credes Master Fund L.P., has filed multiple IPRs against pharmaceutical companies with the publicly announced intention to lower drug prices for everyone by invalidating patent protections that it contends have little value.
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