What Practitioners Need to Know About Patent Invalidity at the Federal Circuit

By: Michael Joffre, Ph.D., Anna G. Phillips, and David Silversmith

Recent Federal Circuit decisions have made it easier than ever to invalidate patents in the life sciences space. It is therefore prudent for those involved in patent litigation to take account of the three main strategies that have been used to successfully challenge patent validity:

• patent eligibility under 35 USC (§101);
• written description under 35 USC (§112); and
• obviousness under 35 USC (§103).

In order to assess each strategy, it is key to analyze one recent Federal Circuit case where a patent challenger successfully invalidated a patent claim and one where the patent challenger was unsuccessful. These cases and strategies will undoubtedly have implications on life science patents moving forward.

This piece is part of a Special Report published by IAM in June 2023 – for more information, please visit http://www.iam-media.com/.