Alere Defeats Rembrandt’s Urine-Cup Patent at Federal Circuit

The Federal Circuit axed a patent for a urine cup and rapid drug test device Friday that has been subject of three appeals, one federal trial, and seven years of litigation.

The appeals court affirmed an administrative patent tribunal’s conclusion that Rembrandt Diagnostics LP’s patent covering “single step collection and assaying of biological fluids” was invalid.

Rembrandt sued Abbott Laboratories unit Alere Inc. in 2016 in US District Court for the Southern District of California, alleging that it sold urine test cups that infringed US Patent No. 6,548,019. Alere countered by challenging the patent’s validity at the US Patent ...