Altaire Pharmaceuticals Inc. had the right to appeal a patent board decision upholding a Paragon BioTeck Inc. pupil dilation patent and has the right to fight on, a federal appellate court ruled. Altaire had legal standing to appeal the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision that the company didn't show the patent was invalid, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled. The court also remanded the case, saying PTAB should have considered what Altaire's president had to say as well as certain testing data. The case highlights remaining uncertainty in the Federal Circuit over when a party can appeal final agency decisions, such as those by PTAB, part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The Federal Circuit set out a standard for demonstrating standing to appeal an agency decision in a 2017 ruling, stating that although a party has to show actual harm-as required for standing generally-the test isn't as tough when a relevant statute provides a right to appeal.
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