Potential Impact of Section 106 of the Stronger Patents Act on the Biotechnology Industry
Jeffrey Buckman A permanent injunction is the strongest remedy available to a patent holder in a patent infringement case. Throughout much of U.S. patent litigation history, plaintiffs were presumptively entitled to a permanent injunction when a defendant infringed the plaintiff’s valid patent. In 2006, however, in eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, the Supreme Court of the United States altered the standard for awarding permanent injunctions in patent infringement cases. In eBay, the Court held that patent holders are not presumptively entitled to permanent injunctions and instead must satisfy the traditional four-factor permanent injunction test. In June 2019, the House of Representatives...
A Review of the Modern IPR Process
Michael Thomas Once a patent is issued for a drug there is still a chance that the validity of the patent may be challenged. One such way a purported infringer or competitor can challenge a patent’s validity is through an inter partes review (IPR) Process allowed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Until recently the use of this process by generic drug-makers to invalidate patents has had no success. However, a recent decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) gave generic drug-makers their first break when they invalidated the patent for the multiple sclerosis drug...