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Cephalon, Inc. v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Summarized by:

  • Court: Intellectual Property Archives
  • Area(s) of Law: Patents
  • Date Filed: 02-14-2013
  • Case #: 2011-1325
  • Judge(s)/Court Below: Reyna, Bryson, Wallach

Enablement can be found when one skilled in the art can practice the invention without 鈥渦ndue experimentation.鈥

Opinion (Wallach): Watson Pharmaceuticals (鈥淲atson鈥) filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application (鈥淎NDA鈥), which involved the use of mannitol as an effervescent agent. Cephalon sued Watson, claiming infringement of its #604 and #590 patents (鈥淜hankari patents鈥). The district court found that the Khankari patents lacked enablement, and Watson鈥檚 ANDA did not infringe it. Cephalon appealed. At the bench trial, Cephalon鈥檚 expert witness showed that a skilled artisan, through routine experimentation, could calculate a single compound effervescent agent from the Khankari disclosures of coupled effervescent formulations. Watson鈥檚 expert witness failed to show why the Khankari disclosures did not guide one skilled in the art to calculate a single compound effervescent agent. On the issue of infringement, the record showed Cephalon鈥檚 expert only proved that mannitol was acidic in water, and did not prove it to be an acidic effervescent agent in saliva. Therefore, Cephalon failed to prove that Watson鈥檚 ANDA product practiced their Khankari claim limitation of 鈥渁t least one [saliva activated] effervescent agent.鈥 Because the court found that Watson failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the Khankari patents lacked enablement, that portion was REVERSED, and because Cephalon failed to prove infringement, the non-infringement finding was AFFIRMED.

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