FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 10, 2006
Finnegan Wins Federal Circuit Ruling in Favor of Sanofi-Aventis Pharma S.A.,
Reversing Adverse Lower Court Decision
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP announced victory today on behalf of Sanofi-Aventis Pharma S.A., after vindicating the reputation of a scientist and resurrecting a patent deemed unenforceable by a district court. In Aventis v. Amphastar & Teva, Finnegan lawyers persuaded the Federal Circuit to reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment that a sanofi-aventis scientist committed inequitable conduct by withholding material information from the PTO during prosecution of the patent-in-issue. The Federal Circuit rejected the assertions of the district court and the appellees that sanofi-aventis could only have acted with an intent to deceive and accepted sanofi-aventis's argument that the failure to disclose may have been due purely to inadvertence. Thus, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court's holding of unenforceability and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.
About Finnegan
With more than 375 intellectual property lawyers, Finnegan is one of the largest IP law firms in the world. From offices in Washington, DC; Atlanta, Georgia; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Palo Alto, California; Reston, Virginia; Brussels, Belgium; Shanghai, China; Taipei, Taiwan; and Tokyo, Japan, the firm practices all aspects of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret law, including counseling, prosecution, licensing, and litigation. Finnegan also represents clients on IP issues related to international trade, portfolio management, the Internet, e-commerce, government contracts, antitrust, and unfair competition. For additional information on the firm, please visit www.finnegan.com.
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