US bio/pharma patents under attack

29-09-2014

Arlene Chow and Peter Noh

US bio/pharma patents under attack

Jiri Kaderabek / Shutterstock.com

Increasing numbers of patent challengers are finding the USPTO’s post-grant procedures to be attractive alternatives to district court litigation, write Arlene Chow and Peter Noh.

ore and more pharmaceutical companies are turning to the new US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) proceedings available under the America Invents Act (AIA) as a way to attack the validity of bio/pharma patents.

To date,  inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, in particular, have been the focal point of post-AIA activity and, according to Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) statistics dated September 18 this year, 5.6% of IPR petitions relate to bio/pharma patents.

Those petitions are increasing. Over the past five and a half months alone, the number of IPR petitions of bio/pharma patents has almost doubled.


biotechnology; pharma patents; patents; pharmaceuticals; USPTO; PTAB

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