Drug Industry Anticipates More Work Ahead Following Health Care Reform Bill’s Final Passage

While praising individual provisions of the final health care overhaul bill, pharmaceutical industry groups said that the legislation the House approved March 21 is an imperfect measure, and they will continue to work on issues such as pay-for-delay patent settlements and generic competition with biologic drugs.

Health Care Reform Legislation Lacks Proposed Ban on Drug Patent Settlements

The $940 billion health care measure passed March 21 by the House does not include a ban on so-called pay-for-delay patent case settlements between branded and generic drug companies. The Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872) now moves to the Senate.

Court Vacates PTO Denial of Angiomax Patent Term Extension; PTO Says No Again

In a long-sought but short-lived victory for Medicines Co., the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia March 16 set aside the Patent and Trademark Office’s refusal to extend the patent term covering the company’s anticoagulant drug Angiomax (bivalirudin) (Medicines Co. v. Kappos, E.D. Va., No. 1:10-cv-00081-CMH-TCB, 3/16/10).

Supreme Court Decision in Muchnick Case Leaves Some Issues to Be Resolved by District Courts

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the inclusion of authors of unregistered works in a settlement of a class action copyright proceeding does not prevent a federal court from exercising jurisdiction leaves some unanswered questions that federal district courts will have to address in the future, according to participants in a March 22 panel discussion presented by Law Seminars International of Seattle.

ANALYSIS: Beware: First Round of Cases Hits the Courts After Federal Circuit Clears the Way for Large False Patent Marking Fines

A little case about construction stilts could mean big fines for companies found liable under the false patent marking statute. In a huge expansion of the fines available under the statute, the Federal Circuit has distinguished century-old precedent, and now every article falsely marked with a patent number is subject to the maximum fine, $500. 1 This means a batch of 100,000 falsely marked products could face fines of $50,000,000. With such large potential damages, and qui tam litigants eligible to collect half of the bounty recovered, litigants have not been wasting time pursuing claims.

Appeals Court Confirms Patent Act Section 112′s Separate Written Description Requirement

A 9-2 en banc decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit confirmed March 22 that Section 112 of the Patent Act contains a separate written description requirement beyond the requirement that a patent’s claims be enabled in the specification (Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Eli Lilly & Co., Fed. Cir., No. 2008-1248, 3/22/10).

Settlement Forces First-Ever Climate Change Review Before Drilling for Oil, Natural Gas

MISSOULA, Mont.—A federal judge in Missoula approved a settlement requiring the Bureau of Land Management to assess climate change impacts before allowing oil and gas drilling on 38,000 acres in Montana (Montana Environmental Information Center v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management,D. Mont.No. 9:08-cv-00178-DWM, complaint dismissed 3/18/10).

California Governor Signs Bill Exempting Green Manufacturing Equipment from Tax

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed a bill March 24 exempting purchases of equipment used to manufacture products that generate alternative energy from the state sales and use tax.

EPA Publishes Final Rule Outlining Fuels That Qualify as Renewable under Energy Law

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Environmental Protection Agency will publish a final rule March 26 establishing criteria to determine what biofuels meet the renewable fuels standard, part of a federal effort to meet a target of tripling the amount of ethanol and other biofuels in the U.S. motor fuel supply by 2022.

California Governor Signs Bill Exempting Green Manufacturing Equipment from Tax

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed a bill March 24 exempting purchases of equipment used to manufacture products that generate alternative energy from the state sales and use tax.

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