1-Hour Program

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Overview

This lecture provides a strategy for the re-litigation of a patent-related issue (e.g., inequitable conduct) following a change in the law that previously governed the issue.  This presentation will focus on the renewed enforcement of patents held unenforceable prior to the en banc decision of Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson & Co., a decision in which the Federal Circuit made substantially more difficult the burden of proving patent unenforceability on grounds of inequitable conduct.  649 F.3d 1276 (Fed.Cir. 2011).  This presentation will be useful to those who have had patents deemed unenforceable prior to the change in law by Therasense.   

Please join Jonathan Hill, a partner in the Chicago office of Freeborn & Peters LLP for highlights which will include: 

  • An overview of the law of issue preclusion (collateral estoppel), which generally operates to preclude litigation over an issue previously decided in a final judgment, but for a change in the legal standard that governs the issue;
  • An overview of the Therasense decision and characteristics of pre-Therasense unenforceability decisions which may merit re-litigation under the current law; and
  • Considerations (e.g., lapse of patents for unpaid maintenance fees) which may influence the decision whether to newly enforce patents held unenforceable under pre-Therasense legal standards.

Credit Details