Source: https://www.oliff.com/2014/04/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 00:08:56+00:00

Document:
On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decisions in Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health and Fitness, Inc. and Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Management System, Inc., giving district courts more flexibility to award attorney’s fees in patent cases. Copies of the decisions are available here: Octane Fitness Decision, Highmark Decision.
In Highmark, the district court granted summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of Highmark, found the case to be exceptional, and awarded Highmark attorney’s fees of approximately $4.7M, $209K in costs, and $375K in expert fees. The Federal Circuit partially reversed the district court, and in so doing used a de novo standard of review. The Supreme Court applied the analysis of its Octane Fitness decision and reversed the Federal Circuit’s judgment, concluding that “the determination of whether a case is ‘exceptional’ under §285 is a matter of discretion” for the district court, and determining that the district court’s findings in this regard are entitled to deference on appeal and reviewed for abuse of discretion.
Although the Supreme Court’s decisions in Octane Fitness and Highmark are notable for their potential effects on patent trolls and the ability of district courts to award attorney’s fees for baseless lawsuits brought by non-practicing entities, the new standard adopted by the Court impacts all patent litigation. District judges clearly have far greater flexibility and should be more willing to make exceptional case findings and award attorney’s fees in appropriate circumstances. Patent owners should be especially wary of advancing or maintaining assertions that might be viewed as questionable in the event that an accused infringer obtains a judgment in its favor. Perhaps most importantly, accused infringers now have a potentially very significant weapon — the real threat of obtaining an award of attorney’s fees — in defending baseless lawsuits brought by patent trolls, and others.
In a 2-1 decision, the Federal Circuit has affirmed a summary judgment that a method of treating osteoporosis by administering a monthly oral dose of 150 mg of ibandronate would have been obvious. The case, Hoffman-La Roche, Inc. v. Apotex Inc., was brought by Roche, a brand manufacturer, against five generic drug manufacturers who had filed Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs). Oliff PLC represented Orchid Chemical, one of the generics.
The Federal Circuit’s majority opinion pointed out that a monthly oral ibandronate treatment was taught by several prior art references. The dosage of 150 mg was effectively taught by scaling up prior art dosages of 5 mg daily or 35 mg weekly in light of the Riis article, which taught the total dose concept: that the effect of ibandronate on bone formation was due to the cumulative dose for a time interval, and not the size or frequency of individual doses.
The Federal Circuit rejected Roche’s contention that those of ordinary skill in the art would have had safety concerns with a 150 mg dose, relying in part on testimony provided by Dr. John Yates, an expert retained by Orchid.
The Federal Circuit also held that Roche’s claims of unexpected results were insufficient to overcome the prima facie showing of obviousness provided by the defendants’ prior art. While Roche provided evidence that a 150 mg dose had an unexpectedly high bioavailability in the body, bioavailability was not a direct measure of efficacy and, in any event, did not change the reasonable expectation of success that one of ordinary skill in the art would have had prior to consideration of the bioavailability data.
The Supreme Court has articulated new guidance for evaluating standing in false advertising claims brought under the Lanham Act Section 43(a), 15 U.S.C. §1125(a). In a March 25, 2014 unanimous decision, Lexmark Int’l, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court declined to adopt the multifactor balancing test of Associated Gen. Contractors of Cal., Inc. v. Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519 (1983) or the direct-competitor test applied by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in its review of the district court decision. Instead, the Court adopted a new test that examines (1) whether plaintiff’s interests fall into the “zone of interests” contemplated by the statute and (2) whether plaintiff’s alleged economic or reputational injury was proximately caused by the deception wrought by defendant’s advertising.

References: v. 
 v. 
 §285
 v. 
 §1125
 v. 
 v.