Intellectual Property Weekly Abstracts Alert - Week of September 5, 2011

Edited by Chantal Saunders and Beverley Moore

The Commissioner made a decision on November 1, 2010 (the 2010 decision), our summary found here, in respect of a patent application relating to monoclonal antibodies. The Applicant asserted that he had not had the opportunity to address two issues that were considered in reaching the 2010 decision. The Patent Appeal Board (PAB) reconvened to hear argument with respect to these two issues, namely the scope of a broad claim in relation to target polypeptides, and support for the utility of the claimed antibodies.

With respect to the first issue, the PAB maintained the recommendation made in the 2010 decision. In particular, the PAB indicated that the scope of the claim should be limited to antibodies capable of specifically binding the target polypeptide set out in the figures in the patent application.