Federal Circuit Court Decisions For Week Ending March 15, 2019

Forest Laboratories, LLC v. Sigmapharm Laboratories LLC,, Nos. 2017-2369, 2017-2370, 2017-2372, 2017-2373, 2017-2374, 2017-2375, 2017-2376, 2017-2389, 2017-2412, 2017-2436, 20172438, 2017-2440, 2017-2441 (March 14, 2019) (precedential) (3-0); Patent No. 5,763,476

Key point(s):

• District court must make an express finding as to motivation–to-combine arguments presented to support a finding of obviousness.
• Claim construction must be consistent with plain language of the claims and the specification.

Natural Alternatives International v. Creative Compounds, LLC, No. 2018-1295 (March 15, 2019) (precedential) (2-1); Patent Nos. 5,965,596, 7825,084, 7,504,376, 8,993,610, 8,470,865, RE45,947

Key point(s):

• If district court has not conducted claim construction, plaintiff’s asserted claim constructions will control for subject matter eligibility purposes.
• A method that administers a natural substance to a subject is patent eligible if the administration alters the natural state of the subject.

In re Qapsule Technologies, Inc., No. 2018-1772 (March 11, 2019) (nonprecedential); Patent Application No. 13/882,773

Key point(s):

• A product claim limitation introduced using “comprising” cannot be used to draw distinctions with reference objects produced via different means.
• A product claim using “comprising” can be anticipated by a product with additional components or properties compared to the product claim.