USPTO gives final rejection in re-exam of Cabilly patent, US 6,331,415

Further to the re-examination of US 6,331,415, Genentech Inc. said on February 21, 2007 the U.S. Patent Office rejected its claims to a lucrative antibody patent that was the focus of a January 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision. This is a final Office Action in the re-examination, and "Genentech plans to respond to the final Office action within the next several months and, if necessary, appeal the decision through all appropriate means of review within the Patent Office and the courts." The loss of rights to the so-called Cabilly patent could cost Genentech a large portion of royalty revenue.

Although some legal academics point to the lack of use of the re-examination mechanism, this is another example in which the re-examination procedure was used, and, here, produced a finding of INVALIDITY.

Recall also that the Smucker peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich patent, much maligned by patent reformers such as Adam Jaffe, also went down the shoots in re-examination.