Tagged: Original Patent Requirement

As reported in a prior post, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) recently had the opportunity to revisit the legal standard for invalidating reissue patent claims under the original patent requirement. In Forum US, Inc. v. Flow Valve, LLC, the CAFC affirmed a district court grant of partial summary judgment that certain reissue claims were invalid under the original patent requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 251. In the process, the Federal Circuit reaffirmed the legal standard set forth in a 2014 CAFC decision, Antares Pharma, Inc. v. Medac Pharma Inc., 771 F.3d 1354 (Fed. Cir. 2014). In Antares Pharma, the Federal Circuit held that to comply with the original patent requirement, an invention claimed in a reissue patent must either be for: (i) the same invention disclosed in the original patent or (ii) a newly claimed invention “clearly and unequivocally” disclosed as a separate invention in the original patent. See id. at 1362-1363. In Forum US, the plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment that claims 14-20 of U.S. Reissue Patent 45,878 were invalid. The original patent related to the machining of pipe joints used in the oil and gas industry. Each of the thirteen original patent claims required “a plurality of arbors.” The summary of the invention likewise referred to a plurality of...

As intellectual property litigators who litigate reissue patents know, the Federal Circuit has not decided a case based on the original patent requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 251 since the 2014 Antares Pharma, Inc. v. Medac Pharma Inc. decision. 771 F.3d 1354 (Fed. Cir. 2014). In Antares Pharma, the court held that to comply with the original patent requirement, an invention claimed in a reissue patent must either be for: (i) the same invention disclosed in the original patent or (ii) a newly claimed invention “clearly and unequivocally” disclosed as a separate invention in the original patent. See id. at 1362. An appeal of a decision in Forum US, Inc. v. Flow Valve, LLC, Civ. No. 17-495-F (W.D. Ok.), Docket Entry 45, (CAFC Appeal No. 18-1765) invalidating certain claims pursuant to the original patent requirement is scheduled to be argued at the Federal Circuit on January 11, 2019 and may result in a new precedential decision applying the original patent requirement. In Forum US, the plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment that claims 14-20 of U.S. Reissue Patent 45,878 were invalid. The original patent related to the machining of pipe joints used in the oil and gas industry. Each of the 13 original patent claims required “a plurality of arbors.” The summary of the invention likewise referred to...