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SCOTUS preserves assignor estoppel in Minerva Surgical v. Hologic patent case

The front of U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. [Adobe stock photo]

The U.S. Supreme Court, in its Minerva Surgical v. Hologic ruling today preserved the legal doctrine of assignor estoppel — that inventors who sell patent rights can’t turn around and sue over the validity of the patents.

However, Justice Elena Kagan, in her opinion for the majority, did say that the doctrine has limits.

The convoluted case involves the NovaSure system for abnormal uterine bleeding that Csaba Truckai invented in the late 1990s, filing for a patent assigned to his company Novacept. Hologic eventually acquired Novacept in 2007 and got claims added to the patent in 2015. Months later, Hologic sued Minerva Surgical — the new company Truckai had founded — for patent infringement. Minerva Surgical makes the Minerva Endometrial Ablation System, touted as an improved device to treat abnormal uterine bleeding.

In…

Answering the CDMO shortage: A new paradigm for drug development

Photo by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash

What can the pharma industry do about the critical shortage of contract manufacturing organization (CMO) and contract development and manufacturing company (CDMO) facilities?

For a growing number of young entrepreneurial drug companies, the answer is a middle ground between building their own facilities and outsourcing to the saturated CMO/CDMO market. This middle ground lies in hybrid flexible cleanroom facilities with wraparound support services, which are gaining greater acceptance in the pharma industry. This model allows companies to leverage their manufacturing expertise while still maintaining control of their intellectual property. This approach is particularly valuable as new therapeutic technologies emerge, which require a different competency than many of the existing CMO/CDMO facilities can handle. Hybrid flexible cleanroom facilities are likely to emerge as a n…

3 ways to a strategic medtech patent portfolio

[Photo by Hassan Pasha on Unsplash]Protecting innovations leads to medtech success. Top Greenberg Traurig patent attorneys explain how.

Roman Fayerberg and David J. Dykeman, Greenberg Traurig

A strategic patent portfolio is key to a medtech company’s growth and success, but building a robust patent portfolio takes strategy, time and money.

While there are no shortcuts to building a strategic patent portfolio, there are several ways medtech companies can get a head start on the competition.

Go to the MassDevice sister site Medical Design & Outsourcing to discover some of the strategies.

3 ways to a strategic medtech patent portfolio

[Photo by Hassan Pasha on Unsplash]

Protecting innovations leads to medtech success. Top Greenberg Traurig patent attorneys explain how.

Roman Fayerberg and David J. Dykeman, Greenberg Traurig

A strategic patent portfolio is key to a medtech company’s growth and success, but building a robust patent portfolio takes strategy, time and money.

While there are no shortcuts to building a strategic patent portfolio, there are several ways medtech companies can get a head start on the competition.

1. Establish processes to identify and protect inventions

Early-stage medtech companies should implement in-house processes and procedures to capture and protect innovations in a strategic manner.

Many large medtech companies employ experienced in-house patent attorneys whose primary responsibility is building and managing their company’s patent portfolio. Without in-house patent attorneys, these …

Pharma researcher charged with theft of trade secrets

Image from Bill Oxford via Unsplash

A former director of medical and scientific affairs at Merck (NYSE:MRK) faces criminal charges in federal court in New Jersey for allegedly stealing and transmitting trade secrets.

Shafat A. Quadri has been released on $100,000 unsecured bond. He was most recently employed at AstraZeneca (NSDQ:AZN).

The single count of trade secret theft carries a maximum potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine as high as $250,000, or double the total financial gain or loss, according to Rachael A. Honig, acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.

The complaint describes Quadri’s former employer as “Company 1,” stating that the organization reached out to the FBI in Oct. 2019 to report suspicious activity regarding its sensitive intellectual property. Quadri had been employed at that company until Sept. 30, 2019.

The suit alleges that Quadri …

Hackers targeted pharma and other IP for Chinese government, indictment claims

A federal grand jury in Spokane, Wash. has indicted two Chinese nationals on charges that they hacked into pharma companies and hundreds of other businesses, governments and organizations — in some cases on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

The 11-count indictment, which the U.S. Department of Justice announced today, alleges that Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi for the past 10 years targeted companies in countries with high technology industries, including the United States. They stole terabytes of data.

“China has now taken its place, alongside Russia, Iran and North Korea, in that shameful club of nations that provide a safe haven for cybercriminals in exchange for those criminals being ‘on-call’ to work for the benefit of the state, here to feed the Chinese Communist party’s insatiable hunger for American and other non-Chinese companies’ hard-earned intellectual property, including COVID-19 research,” Assistant Attorney General for National Securi…

Medtronic, Tandem Diabetes Care bury the hatchet on potential IP disputes

Two major insulin pump makers — Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Tandem Diabetes Care (NSDQ:TNDM) — announced today that they’ve inked a non-exclusive patent cross-license agreement related to diabetes treatment tech.

The companies said the agreement will allow them to focus on innovation while avoiding the distraction of potential legal disagreements.

The deal could be but another example of how medical device companies are trying to avoid unnecessary costs — including potentially money-draining litigation and IP cases — amid the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession.

Get the full story on our sister site Drug Delivery Business News.