Latest News & Features
Americas
Congress has apparently taken note of the strategy of hedge fund manager Kyle Bass to take advantage of the IPR process, with two pending patent reform bills which include provisions that could curtail his activities, says John Abramic of Steptoe & Johnson. 3 September 2015
Big Pharma
The competence in various areas of the new Unified Patent Court is a matter of conjecture, as Paul England and Christof Höhne of law firm Taylor Wessing report. 27 August 2015
Americas
A recent decision in Canada means defendants in patent infringement cases can raise the non-infringing alternative defence in response to damages claims. Mark Biernacki and Cameron Weir of Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh considers its potential impact on litigation between drugs companies. 20 August 2015
article
US Congress must exempt biopharmaceutical patents from PTAB review to ensure continued medical innovation, argues Peter Pitts of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. 13 August 2015
Europe
Proactively managing patent portfolios is an investment that pays for itself in reduced patent costs. Bruno Reynolds, who works at the consultancy arm of Isis Innovation, the technology transfer company of the University of Oxford, explains more. 6 August 2015
Americas
On July 21 the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in Amgen v Sandoz that biosimilar applicants can opt out of the ‘patent dance’. Courtenay Brinckerhoff of Foley & Lardner considers the decision’s implications for the biosimilars framework and highlights the questions that remain unanswered. 30 July 2015
Americas
Biopharma parties thinking about challenging a patent via an inter partes review should be aware that there are significant differences between district court and IPR practice, as Tasha Francis and Dorothy Whelan of Fish & Richardson explain. 23 July 2015
Big Pharma
Despite its troubled start, Brazil’s Product Development Partnerships programme is now entering a new stage of its development with the introduction of a more complete system for regulation, but there’s also more scope for patent infringement, say Otto Licks and Ricardo Campello of Licks Attorneys. 16 July 2015
Europe
Twenty-five years ago Tuerk and Gold reported the Selex method. Richard Clegg of Mewburn Ellis discusses some of the challenges at the EPO today when attempting to obtain adequate class-level protection for functionally defined molecules. 9 July 2015
Asia
India’s progressive IP policies—and its status as ‘pharmacy of the developing world’ and lifeline for millions of people—are now under threat from many fronts. Yuanqiong Hu, IP advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières’s Access Campaign, explains more. 9 July 2015