Elysium gets ChromaDex, Dartmouth vitamin patents invalidated
Dietary supplements company Elysium Health has convinced a Delaware court to invalidate two vitamin B3 patents belonging to rival ChromaDex and Dartmouth College.
ChromaDex and the College sued Elysium in 2018, claiming that its BASIS dietary supplement infringed on US patents 8,197,807 and 8,383,086, which cover compositions and methods for Nicotinamide riboside (NR) kinase, a naturally occurring form of vitamin B3.
In response, Elysium moved to have claims 1, 2 and 3 of the ‘807 patent and claim 2 of the ‘086 patent invalidated.
The US District Court for the District of Delaware judge Colm Connolly ruled that all disputed claims of the two patents were linked to patent-ineligible subject matter and therefore invalid under the Supreme Court’s Alice test.
The court also granted Elysium’s motion for a summary judgment of the lawsuit.
Alice analysis
Step one of the Alice analysis, which ascertains whether the “character” of the claims is directed to patent-ineligible subject matter.
Elysium argues that the asserted claims are directed to "compositions comprising isolated nicotinamide riboside (NR)[,] ... a naturally-occurring vitamin present in cow milk”, and were therefore directed toward a natural phenomenon.
ChromaDex argued that the fact that NR is found in nature did not mean that the claimed composition was directed to ineligible subject matter.
ChromaDex added: "correct inquiry under Alice step 1 is ... whether compositions of the asserted claims 'have different characteristics and can be used in a manner that, as it appears in nature, cannot."'
However, Connolly stated that even if he applied the test as ChromaDex suggested, the claims would still be found ineligible under Alice.
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