United States Federal Circuit

In a patent infringement action involving defendant's request for approval to market a generic version of plaintiff's antiviral compounds covered by plaintiff's '483 patent, judgment in favor of plaintiff finding infringement is vacated and remanded, where: 1) the obviousness-type double patenting doctrine prohibits an inventor from extending his right to exclude through claims in a later-expiring patent that are not patentably distinct from the claims of the inventor's earlier-expiring patent; and here, 2) plaintiff's '375 patent qualifies as an obviousness-type double patenting reference for the '483 patent.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/22/2014
• Published 04/22/2014

Judges

• CHEN

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel