Federal Circuit Mulls Whether Hep C Pill’s Patent Is Too Broad

The Federal Circuit should look past how many different compounds an invalidated hepatitis C treatment patent could cover—whether hundreds or millions—and focus on whether the University of Minnesota’s earlier applications mapped out Gilead Sciences Inc.'s later treatments, a three-judge panel was told Wednesday.

Arguing for the university, attorney Edgar Haug said the court should revive the school’s US Patent No. 8,815,830, which the Patent Trial and Appeal Board knocked down in light of competitor Gilead Sciences Inc.'s evidence that it discovered a specific compound first.

“It’s not legally proper to say, ‘You disclosed too many, therefore you disclosed nothing.’ ...