The United States Supreme Court issued a decision today in FTC v. Actavis, Inc. considering the legality of ‘reverse payment’ patent settlements particularly under the Hatch-Waxman Act. A majority held that such settlements are not presumptively illegal, nor immune from antitrust attack.
Isolated DNA
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that isolated DNA is not patentable subject matter but cDNA is patentable in Association for Molecular Pathology et al. v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. et al.
Sildenafil patent not “void”
The Supreme Court of Canada has varied its decision in Teva Canada Ltd. v. Pfizer Canada Inc., 2012 SCC 60 to remove references to the patent being ‘invalid’ or ‘void’ and instead referred to Teva’s allegations of invalidity in the PM(NOC) application being established.
Patent Assertion Entities
President Obama released reports and plans relating to patent litigation in the United States and particularly addressing “Patent Assertion Entities”. The announcement today included among other things, plans to provide new rules as to patent ownership and guidance on ‘functional claiming’ in software patents, as well as recommendations on costs awards in patent cases.
Copyright Re-sale Rights
A private members Bill has received first reading in parliament that would amend the Copyright Act to include artist re-sale rights. Bill C-516, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (artist’s resale right), was introduced on May 29, 2013.
Judicial Retirement
Justice Yvon Pinard of the Federal Court is retiring effective July 1, 2013. Justice Pinard has been with the Federal Court since 1984 and has been a supernumerary judge since 2005.
Seeds are not exhausted
In a unanimous decision, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the lower court decision in Bowman v. Monsanto et al. The Court held that a farmer who buys patented genetically modified seeds may not reproduce them through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission.
“Promise Doctrine”
The Supreme Court of Canada heard oral arguments today on Eli Lilly’s application for leave to appeal in its olanzapine patent infringement proceeding where its selection patent was found invalid for lacking utility under the ‘promise doctrine’ by the lower courts, with a decision expected this Thursday. US recently listed Canada on its IP ‘watch list’, highlighting concern with Canada’s “heightened utility requirements for patents that Canadian courts have been adopting recently.”
Continue reading “Promise Doctrine”
En banc Patentable subject matter
Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit released its en banc decision in CLS Bank International v. Alice Corporation on the patentability of computer related inventions. The panel of ten judges wrote seven sets of reasons but a majority affirmed the lower court decision that the asserted system, method and computer-readable media claims were not directed to eligible subject matter.
Website Outages
Both the Federal Court and CIPO websites have scheduled outages this weekend. The Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal announced that their website, email and e-filing will be unavailable from Friday night to Sunday morning. CIPO’s deposit accounts and some e-commerce services will be unavailable from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.