PTAB Denies Inter Partes Review in View of Petitioner’s Inconsistent Claim Construction Positions

The PTAB recently denied a petitioner’s request for inter partes review of a competitor’s surgical device patent, stating that the petitioner failed to provide a claim construction necessary to meet its burden to show a reasonable likelihood that at least one claim is unpatentable.  OrthoPediatrics Corp. v. K2M, Inc., IPR2018-01548, Paper 9 (P.T.A.B. March 1,…

Athena Diagnostics v. Mayo – Federal Circuit Rejects Subject Matter Eligibility of Diagnostic Method Claims Requiring Man-Made Molecules

Recently, the Federal Circuit affirmed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts holding claims directed to methods for diagnosing neurological disorders invalid for lack of subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Athena Diagnostics, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative Servs , LLC, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 3645 (Fed. Cir. 2019). …

Federal Circuit Confirms that Blocking-Patents Can Kill Secondary Considerations

The Federal Circuit recently refused to rehear a panel decision that affirmed a district court’s finding that the existence of a blocking patent negated the patent owner’s argument that commercial success, failure of others, and long-felt but unmet need showed the patents-in-suit were non-obvious. Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. et al. v. Roxane Labs., Inc. et al. (original…