For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, February 4th , 2019, we will discuss the following cases:

Barry v. Medtronic, Inc (CAFC January 24, 2019 here) Dr. Mark Barry filed and owned two patents (7,670,358 and 8,361,121) related to scoliosis surgery. He sued Medtronic at the district court level, and a jury found several claims infringed. Medtronic alleged multiple defenses, mainly that Dr. Barry’s patents were barred by 35 U.S.C 102. Before filing an application, Dr. Barry had used his method in multiple surgeries, but claimed the surgeries were experimental use. The CAFC agreed with the district court and affirmed that the surgeries were an experimental use.

Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Iancu (CAFC January 23, 2019 here) Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and United Therapeutics Corp. appealed a summary judgment by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The district court determined that, based on Gilead Sciences, Inc. v. Lee, the USPTO’s calculation of the patent term adjustment for a patent at issue was correct, and that summary judgment was warranted as a matter of law. The Federal Circuit disagreed, reversing the decision because the patent term adjustment went beyond the period during which the applicant failed to undertake reasonable efforts and thereby exceeded the limitations set by the patent term adjustment statute.

All are invited to join us on Monday February 4th , 2019, at noon in our Westlake Village office. This activity is approved for 1 hour of MCLE credit. If you will be joining us, please RSVP to Elisha Manzur by 9 am Monday morning.