June 2014

Looking Ahead

On June 4, 2014, in Consumer Watchdog v. Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation,
No. 13-1377 (Fed. Cir. June 4, 2014), the Federal Circuit dismissed for lack of Article III
standing an appeal against Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (“WARF”) brought by consumer-advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog (“CW”).  The appeal arose from an inter partes reexamination filed by CW against WARF’s U.S. Patent No. 7,029,913 (“the ’913 patent”), directed to human embryonic stem cell cultures.  Following the reexamination, the Board found the ’913 patent claims patentable over the asserted prior art, and CW appealed to the Federal Circuit.   On appeal, the Court concluded that CW’s disagreement with the Board did not invade any legal right conferred by the inter partes reexamination statute and that CW had not identified any particularized, concrete interest in the patentability of the ’913 patent as, for example, a competitor, licensee, or stem cell researcher.  Because CW did not identify any injury in fact flowing from the Board’s decision, the Court dismissed its appeal for lack of Article III standing. 

Read the full summary in the next edition of Last Month at the Federal Circuit.