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ARTICLE · 03 JULY 2020

District Court: Prosecution History Context Defeats Written Description Requirement

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The District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia recently found method of treatment claims directed to treating a specific disease at a specific dose invalid for lack of written...

United StatesIntellectual Property
Rachel J. Elsby
Rachel J. Elsby
Rubén Muñoz
Rubén Muñoz
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The District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia recently found method of treatment claims directed to treating a specific disease at a specific dose invalid for lack of written description based on the context of the patent's prosecution history. In particular, the district court found that the timeline of certain clinical trial results, the filing of an unrelated patent application relative to claim amendments and the broad generic disclosures in the specification were persuasive evidence that the written description requirement was not met. Notably, the Federal Circuit entered an interim injunction in this case while it considers a motion for an injunction pending the appeal of the district court's decision.

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