In Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sprint Communication Co., the Federal Circuit reversed a district court ruling holding six of Sprint’s patents invalid as indefinite. The definiteness dispute centered on the term “processing system,” which performed the function of transforming and routing telephone signals through a data network. Cox argued that “processing system” is a structural…
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras found that the FDA’s prior interpretation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act’s (“FDCA”) five-year exclusivity provision was arbitrary and capricious. Ferring Pharm., Inc. v. Burwell, No. 15-0802 (D.D.C. Sep. 9, 2016). This provision—known as NCE exclusivity—provides a five-year period of marketing exclusivity for drugs in which “no active…
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…