Supreme Court Upholds Federal Circuit’s Full-Scope Enablement Test in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi

[1] See our previous post on this case for a description of the arguments made on either side of the issue. Recently, a unanimous Supreme Court issued its ruling in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi, holding that Amgen’s challenged patents ran afoul of Section 112’s enablement requirement.[1]  Writing for the Court, Justice Gorsuch focused on the […]

Private Plaintiff Must Prove Antitrust Injury to Recover for Antitrust Violations Based on Reverse Payment Settlements of ANDA Litigation

Three years ago, the Supreme Court held in Federal Trade Comm’n v. Actavis, Inc. that pay-for-delay settlement agreements may constitute antitrust violations under the rule of reason if their anticompetitive effects are unreasonable when viewed in light of the agreements’ size, scale in relation to future litigation costs, independence from other services that might justify […]

Method Claims Can Salvage Inventions From Section 101 Attack

In Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, the Supreme Court held invalid under § 101 patent claims that were directed to isolated genes that could be used to test for increased risk of breast cancer.  While the Court found that discovery of the genes was important and useful, “separating [the] gene from its surrounding […]

Supreme Court Holds Good-Faith Belief of Invalidity Not a Defense to Induced Infringement

The Ruling. In a 6-2 decision issued Tuesday, the Supreme Court once again disagreed with the Federal Circuit and held that a defendant’s good-faith (but incorrect) belief that a patent is invalid is not a defense to an induced infringement claim. Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Sys., Inc., No. 13-896. The Court also affirmed that induced […]

Supreme Court Reverses Longstanding Federal Circuit Precedent, Orders Claim Construction Deference

The Federal Circuit has long reviewed all claim construction orders “de novo” – without any deference to factual issues underlying the district court’s decision.  Today, the Supreme Court overturned that longstanding precedent, ruling that findings of fact made as part of a claim construction order should be reviewed for clear error. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., et […]

Supreme Court Questions Standard for Appellate Review of Claim Construction

Last week, the Supreme Court held arguments in the closely watched case of Teva v. Sandoz.  Teva won at the district court level based on claim construction arguments.  The Federal Circuit reversed, affording no deference to the district courts factual findings underlying claim construction.  In March, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to answer one lone […]