Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Ltd v. Matal

The framework in 35 U.S.C. 154 allows adjustment a patent’s term “[t]o account for any undue delays in patent examination caused by the PTO,” including an “A Delay,” which “arises when the PTO fails to meet statutory deadlines for events that occur during prosecution, such as providing notice to the applicant of the rejection of a claim or taking action on an applicant’s reply to such a rejection.” The 675 patent granted from the 619 application, which was filed as a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. 371, was allowed 40 A Delay days. The patent holder argued that the accrual of A Delay for the 675 patent should have been calculated based on the 619 application’s filing date, January 12, 2012, or at least based on the 30-month date, January 16, 2012. The Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent and Trademark Office’s calculation. Under either pre- or post- Technical Corrections—Leahy-Smith America Invents Act law, the adjustment for the patent should be the same because the conditions under 35 U.S.C. 371(b) and (f) (national stage application) were not met on the day the 619 application was filed. The national stage did not commence on the 30-month date that fell on a federal holiday View "Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Ltd v. Matal" on Justia Law