More on Ariad/Lilly

On July 9, Reuters reported: Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. said a U.S. federal court ruled in favor of it and co-complainants in a patent infringement case against Eli Lilly and Co., saying that the patent was valid and enforceable.

Within the Reuters report, one also has mention of a final rejection in a re-examination of the patent at issue: Ariad also said that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a final office action in its re-examination of the NF-(kappa)B patent. The Patent and Trademark Office rejected the patentability of certain claims of the patent, including those asserted in the Eli Lilly lawsuit and a separate lawsuit against Amgen Inc. and Wyeth, Ariad said.

Goldie Blumenstyk reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education: The victory came in a federal district court in Boston, where Judge Rya W. Zobel found that a patent on an invention licensed by Ariad Pharmaceuticals in 1991 was valid and enforceable, and that a jury’s finding, in 2006, that Eli Lilly and Company had infringed the patent would stand. The jury had awarded Ariad $65.2-million plus continuing royalties.

One expects that Zobel's ruling will be appealed to the CAFC in short order. Unlike in KSR v. Teleflex, the CAFC will get to comment upon the testimony of Nobel Laureates.

See also

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/04/more-action-on-ariads-516-patent.html

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/01/ariadlilly-is-not-like-rochestersearle.html

In passing, note a post on natekenyon.com of 5/5/06. IPBiz does NOT recommend it for statements about patent law, but it's interesting how an interested (ie, Ariad stockholder) outsider-to-patent-law looks at this.