Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
The Federal Circuit recently upheld the Patent Office's decision to reject claims in four separate reexamination cases due to obviousness-type double patenting (ODP). In re Cellect, LLC, Appeal Nos. 22-1293, -1294, -1295, -1296 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 28, 2023). This decision is important because it expands ODP, a doctrine judges developed long ago, when patents received a term of 17 years from the date of issue, rather than 20 years from the date of filing. Unless overturned by the Supreme Court, this decision will significantly affect patent families that have patents with different expiration dates. This article explains some of the decision's consequences and explores potential patent prosecution strategies.
What transpired in Cellect was not entirely surprising after the court's 2014 decision in Gilead Sciences, Inc. v. Natco Pharma Ltd., 753 F.3d 1208 (Fed. Cir. 2014). In that case, Gilead Sciences sequentially filed separate patent applications, leading to patents with different expiration dates, claiming inventions that were obvious variants of each other. The relevant facts are illustrated below.
|
On these facts, the Federal Circuit concluded that the earlier-expiring '375 patent can serve as an ODP reference against the family-unrelated and later-expiring '483 patent, despite the '375 patent being issued after the '483 patent. The Federal Circuit explained that it's the expiration dates, not the issue dates, that dictate whether ODP may apply. Id. at 1215. Through that explanation, Gilead Sciences introduced new law.
ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE SINGLE SOURCE OF OBJECTIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS, PRACTICAL INSIGHTS, AND NEWS IN ENTERTAINMENT LAW.
Already a have an account? Sign In Now Log In Now
For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473
End of year collections are crucial for law firms because they allow them to maximize their revenue for the year, impacting profitability, partner distributions and bonus calculations by ensuring outstanding invoices are paid before the year closes, which is especially important for meeting financial targets and managing cash flow throughout the firm.
Law firms and companies in the professional services space must recognize that clients are conducting extensive online research before making contact. Prospective buyers are no longer waiting for meetings with partners or business development professionals to understand the firm's offerings. Instead, they are seeking out information on their own, and they want to do it quickly and efficiently.
Through a balanced approach that combines incentives with accountability, firms can navigate the complexities of returning to the office while maintaining productivity and morale.
The paradigm of legal administrative support within law firms has undergone a remarkable transformation over the last decade. But this begs the question: are the changes to administrative support successful, and do law firms feel they are sufficiently prepared to meet future business needs?
Counsel should include in its analysis of a case the taxability of the anticipated and sought after damages as the tax effect could be substantial.