Patent Law Practice Center

Canine Genetic Testing Patent Dispute Settled

On December 13, 2013, Genetic Veterinary Sciences, Inc. (d/b/a Paw Print Genetics) filed a declaratory judgment action against VetGen, LLC, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington (Spokane). The lawsuit sought a declaration that Paw Print Genetics was not infringing various claims of patents owned by VetGen. The complaint specifically sought a declaration of non-infringement with respect to U.S. Patent Nos. 6,040,143, 6,074,832, 6,767,707, 6,780,583, and 6,410,237. Each of these patents are titled DNA encoding canine von Willebrand factor and methods of use. In the alternative, Paw Print Genetics also sought a declaration that the claims of the patents are invalid. Both Paw Print Genetics and VetGen offer inherited disease testing to identify carriers and affected dogs for a variety of different canine genetic conditions.

In both dogs and humans, von Willebrand’s disease is a bleeding disorder of variable severity that results from a quantitative or qualitative defect in von Willebrand factor. This clotting factor has two known functions, stabilization of Factor VIII (hemophilic factor A) in the blood, and aiding the adhesion of platelets to the subendothelium, which allows them to provide hemostasis more effectively. If the factor is missing or defective, the patient, whether human or dog, may bleed severely. The disease is the most common hereditary bleeding disorder in both species, and is genetically and clinically heterogenous.

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Supreme Court to Hear Medtronic v. Boston Scientific

On May 20, 2013, the United States Supreme Court granted cert. in Medtronic v. Boston Scientific, a case that will answer whether the licensee in a declaratory judgment challenge bears the burden of proving that the alleged non-infringing product does not infringe, or whether the responding patentee must prove infringement. To read the Federal Circuit decision in the case, click here.

The Supreme Court explained the question presented as follows:

In Medlmmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc., 549 U.S. 118, 137 (2007), this Court ruled that a patent licensee that believes that its products do not infringe the patent and accordingly are not subject to royalty payments is “not required … to break or terminate its … license agreement before seeking a declaratory judgment in federal court that the underlying patent is … not infringed.”

The question presented is whether, in such a declaratory judgment action brought by a licensee under MedImmune, the licensee has the burden to prove that its products do not infringe the patent, or whether (as is the case in all other patent litigation, including other declaratory judgment actions), the patentee must prove infringement.

How The Sausage Is Made

Written by Brandon Baum of Baum Legal and Practice Center Contributor.

You often hear that the key to being a patent trial lawyer is the ability to master complex technical concepts and communicate them to lay jurors. To comfortably act as a translator between the hard science of technology and the soft art of human understanding and common sense. The reality, however, is not quite so impressive.

Take, for example, this closing argument from the i4i vs. Microsoft case. What follows is the entirety of i4i’s discussion of infringement in its initial closing argument:

 

 

 

 

 

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