Finnegan Awarded NLJ's 2019 D.C. IP Litigation Department of the Year

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC—For the second year in a row, the National Law Journal selected Finnegan as the D.C. Intellectual Property Litigation Department of the Year. The award highlights the firm’s win in E.I. DuPont de Nemours v. Synvina. The September 2018 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit made new law on appellate standing and the burden of production at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

At issue was a patent held by Synvina for a key part of the process in creating environmentally friendly polymers that could someday replace plastic packaging in items from food packaging to health care products. "There's quite an urgent need for some biodegradable materials that could serve as a replacement for plastics," said Finnegan partner Mike Flibbert.

To appeal the PTAB’s decision denying an inter partes review challenge to the Synvina patent, the Finnegan team had to first demonstrate injury-in-fact for clients DuPont and Archer Daniels Midland. The team established four points to prove standing, persuading the Federal Circuit to hear the appeal. Flibbert and Finnegan partner Charles Collins-Chase then convinced the court that the usual burden-shifting framework in the context of overlapping prior-art ranges should apply at the PTAB, which led the court to reverse the Board's decision and hold all of the challenged claims unpatentable for obviousness.

This is a coveted recognition for Finnegan’s litigation and appellate practice, as NLJ honored only eight firms across all litigation categories.

Contacts
Mark D. Sweet, Managing Partner 
mark.sweet@finnegan.com 

James B. Monroe, Chair 
james.monroe@finnegan.com