Attorneys React to Teva’s High Court Win in ‘Secret’ Patent Sale Case

Director Matthew S. Bodenstein was quoted in Westlaw Journal’s article, “Attorneys React to Teva’s High Court Win in ‘Secret’ Patent Sale Case.”

On January 22, 2019, the United States Supreme Court heard Helsinn Healthcare SA v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. et al. (No. 17-1229). The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Helsinn Healthcare SA’s argument that a confidential deal made more than one year before it applied for patents for its Aloxi nausea treatment was not a sale that could qualify as prior art. This sale, the high court said, triggered Section 102(a)(1) of the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C.A. § 102(a)(1), which bars a patent for an invention disclosed to the public more than one year before the patent application is filed. Bodenstein said in order for applications to be filed at an appropriate time, patent practitioners should be focused on coordinating efforts between a company’s R&D, marketing and commercial legal team.

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