Cases Update: International roundup of recently filed cases and noteworthy rulings

摘要

In this ruling, the CAFC ruled that the USPTO is no different from a district court in the requirement to assess objective indicia of nonobviousness in a patent re-examination proceeding. Leo Pharmaceutical Products appealed BPAI claim construction and obviousness findings regarding its US 6,753,013 patent relating to 'storage stable' compositions for treating skin conditions such as psoriasis by simultaneous treatment with vitamin D and corticosteroids. Leo recognized a storage stability problem (doctors were prescribing vitamin D and corticosteroids separately) and "discovered that a new set of solvents, including polyoxypropylene 15 stearyl ether (POP-15-SE) solved the storage stability problem", but that other ingredients (aqueous alcohol-based solvents, and propylene glycol/almond oil) did not. The Board construed the terms 'storage stable' and 'non-aqueous' and rejected Leo's claims as obvious over three prior-art references. The Federal Circuit therefore vacated the Board's construction, but declined to adopt an alternative construction as it was unnecessary to resolve the appeal.