Southern District of Florida Dismisses Patent Infringement Claims for Generalized Allegations and Declaratory Judgment Claims for Lack of Sufficient Immediacy
In Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Aveva Drug Delivery Systems, Inc., Apotex Corp., and Apotex Inc., the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently granted defendant Apotex, Inc.’s (“Apotex”) motion to dismiss various counts of the complaint. The case is a Hatch-Waxman litigation involving patents covering plaintiff Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s (“Scilex”) topical lidocaine patch ZTlido® and an ANDA that was filed by defendant Aveva Drug Delivery Inc. (“Aveva”). Apotex’s motion was based on three different grounds: (1) Rule 12(b)(2) for lack of personal jurisdiction; (2) Rule 12(b)(6) for the patent infringement counts of the complaint because Apotex was not the party that submitted the ANDA; and (3) Rules 12(b)(6) and 12(b)(1) of the declaratory judgment claims because Apotex did not submit the ANDA and/or because there was no immediacy to the controversy on claims for future infringement. See Reckitt Benkiser Inc. v. Watson Labs., Inc.-Fla., No. 09-60609, 2009 WL 10667836, at *2 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 13, 2009) (“The mere filing of a Paragraph IV certification constitutes an act of patent infringement . . .”). With respect to the first two grounds, the district court granted Apotex’s motion, but granted Scilex leave to amend the complaint with respect to the patent infringement claims. Apotex argued that the claims in the case were based...