Exasperated Judge Rips AbbVie, J&J Units as He Denies Fees Bid

“Vexatious conduct” sank a request by partnered units of AbbVie Inc. and Johnson & Johnson for attorney fees nearly three years after they won a patent-infringement case blocking copies of a blockbuster cancer treatment, a federal judge ruled.

AbbVie’s Pharmacyclics LLC and J&J’s Janssen Biotech Inc. litigated an excessive number of patents and claims, burdened the court with misleading arguments, and caused unnecessary delays before agreeing to Alvogen Pharma US Inc.'s infringement concession, according to Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly’s opinion issued Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Delaware. He denied their request for attorney and ...