Abbott Laboratories v. Geneva Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Federal Circuit Court of Appeals
182 F.3d 1315 (1999)
Facts
Abbott (plaintiff) sued Geneva (defendant) for infringement of the ‘207 patent, which is directed to an anti-hypertension drug. The defendants had filed Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) with the FDA, where they sought to market a generic version of the patented drug. In some instances, as is the case here, filing an ANDA with the FDA before a patent’s expiration date can constitute patent infringement. More than one year prior to the ‘207 filing date, a non-party drug manufacturer (Byron Chem. Comp., Inc.) made at least three sales of the later-patented drug in an unknown crystalline form, such that the public was not aware of the exact nature of the product sold. Subsequent testing revealed that the unknown crystalline form sold by Byron was in fact that which Abbott later patented. The court of appeals, on summary judgment, found the claim invalid under the on-sale bar provision of 35 U.S.C. § 102(b). Abbott appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lourie, J.)
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