Bob Stoll Discusses Impact of Supreme Court Holding in IPWatchdog

Washington, D.C., partner and co-chair of the Intellectual Property Group Bob Stoll was quoted in the IPWatchdog article “Industry Insiders: Opinions Mixed in Aftermath of Supreme Court Holding in Helsinn.” The article discusses the impact of the unanimous Supreme Court decision in Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., which ruled that the America Invents Act’s (AIA) language prohibits patent protection for inventions that were “in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.” Bob and other industry experts share their views on this ruling.

Since 2011, patent owners have been asking whether the AIA’s addition of the phrase “or otherwise available to the public” overruled the Federal Circuit’s judicial construction of the on-sale bar, and this case provided an answer: it does not. Bob disagreed with this ruling, citing the AIA’s unambiguous language, and commented that “[y]et again, a unanimous Supreme Court decision puts the Justices’ spin on legislation.”