June 2012
Spotlight Info
In In re Baxter International, Inc., No. 11-1073 (Fed. Cir. May 17, 2012), the Federal Circuit affirmed the Board’s decision that claims of U.S. Patent No. 5,247,434 (“the ’434 patent”) were invalid as obvious, despite the claims having been held valid in an earlier appeal from the district court, which was affirmed by the Federal Circuit. In the earlier litigation, the district court held and the Federal Circuit affirmed that the accused infringer had failed to meet the clear and convincing evidentiary standard necessary for a showing of obviousness. In a concurrent reexamination proceeding, the Board affirmed the examiner’s rejections of the claims on obviousness grounds.