Patent for Cancer Drug Invalid for Obviousnessp-Type Double Patenting
Sun Pharm. Indus. Ltd. v. Eli Lilly & Co., 10-1105, concerned a challenge to the district court's judgment finding certain claims of the patent invalid for obviousness-type double patenting over another patent, in a generic drug manufacturer's suit for a declaratory judgment against Eli Lilly, seeking declaratory relief that a patent related to treating various forms of cancer is invalid and not infringed. In affirming, the court held that the district court correctly followed the double patenting analysis of the Geneva line of cases, which address the situation in which an earlier patent claims a compound, disclosing the utility of that compound in the specification, and a later patent claims a method of using that compound for a particular use described in the specification of the earlier patent.
Related Resource:
- Full text of Sun Pharm. Indus. Ltd. v. Eli Lilly & Co