United States Federal Circuit

Plaintiff brought this action against defendant to obtain a declaratory judgment that plaintiff will not infringe a patent owned but disclaimed by defendant if plaintiff manufactures or sells a generic drug bioequivalent to defendant's Benicar drug. Plaintiff cannot infringe the patent as defendant has disclaimed it, but plaintiff still contends that it has a concrete interest in obtaining a judgment of non-infringement for its generic drug because such a judgment would enable it to receive marketing approval from the FDA and to enter the market sooner than otherwise. The district court dismissed plaintiff's complaint for lack of a case or controversy. The judgment of dismissal is reversed, where plaintiff has a concrete, potentially high-value stake in obtaining the judgment it seeks, and defendant has a concrete, potentially high-value stake in denying plaintiff that judgement and thereby delaying plaintiff's market entry.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/31/2015
• Published 03/31/2015

Judges

• Taranto

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel