Humira Patent Invalid for Obviousness Type Double Patenting

In AbbVie Inc. v. Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Trust, the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court's finding that a second patent covering AbbVie's Humira product is invalid under the doctrine of obviousness-type double patenting. The decision reaffirms the court's stance in Gilead that the doctrine remains valid under the 20-year patent term system, and serves an important public policy goal of ensuring that once a patent protecting an invention has expired, the public is free to practice that invention and its obvious variants. The court may have gone too far, however, in relying on the disclosure of the reference patent to support its obviousness determination.

The Patent at Issue