throbber
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`_______________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`_____________
`
`WATSON LABORATORIES, INC.
`Petitioner
`
`v.
`
`UNITED THERAPEUTICS CORP.
`Patent Owner
`Patent No. 9,358,240

`Issue Date: June 7, 2016

`Title: TREPROSTINIL ADMINISTRATION BY INHALATION
`_______________
`
`Inter Partes Review No. 2017-01621
`__________________________________________________
`
`
`
`PATENT OWNER REQUEST FOR REHEARING
`UNDER 37 C.F.R. § 42.71
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`
`
`I. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1
`
`II. LEGAL STANDARD .............................................................................................................. 1
`
`III. ARGUMENT .......................................................................................................................... 2
`
`A.
`
`B.
`
`The Board Misapprehended Controlling Precedent By Requiring
`More Evidence Than Necessary To Prove Ghofrani Is Not By
`“Another” .............................................................................................................. 3
`
`The Board Erred In Finding Voswinckel’s Authorship Created A
`Genuine Issue Of Material Fact Regarding Whether Ghofrani
`Constitutes the Work of Another. ....................................................................... 9
`
`IV. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 11
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`
`
`
`Cases
`
`Applied Materials Inc. v. Gemini Research Corp.,
`835 F.2d 279 (Fed. Cir. 1987) .............................................................................. 5
`
`Biotec Biologische Naturverpackungen v. Biocorp.,
`Inc., 249 F.3d 1341 (Fed. Cir. 2011) .................................................................. 10
`
`Celotex Corp. v. Catrett,
`477 U.S. 317 (1986) ............................................................................................ 10
`
`Ethicon Inc. v. U.S. Surgical Corp.,
`135 F.3d 1456 (Fed. Cir. 1998) ............................................................................ 8
`
`In re Katz,
`687 F.2d 450 (CCPA 1982) .......................................................... 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
`
`In re Land,
`368 F.2d 866 (CCPA 1966) ..................................................................... 3, 4, 6, 7
`
`Palo Alto Networks, Inc. v. Juniper Networks, Inc.,
`IPR2013-00369 (PTAB Feb. 14, 2014) ................................................................ 2
`
`Star Fruits S.N.C. v. United States,
`393 F.3d 1277 (Fed. Cir. 2005) ............................................................................ 2
`
`Varian Med. Systs. v. Wm. Beaumont Hosp.,
`IPR2016-00163 (PTAB May 4, 2017) ......................................................... 5, 7, 8
`
`Statutes
`
`35 U.S.C. § 102(a) .................................................................................................3, 4
`
`35 U.S.C. § 103 ......................................................................................................4, 8
`
`35 U.S.C. § 103(a) ................................................................................................... 11
`
`35 U.S.C. § 116(a) ..................................................................................................... 7
`
`35 U.S.C. § 315(b) ..................................................................................................... 1
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`Other Authorities
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`MPEP § 2132.01 ............................................................................................... 4, 6, 7
`
`Regulations
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c) .................................................................................... 3, 10, 11
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c) ................................................................................................... 2
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d) .................................................................................................. 1
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`I. INTRODUCTION
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`United Therapeutics Corporation (“Patent Owner”) respectfully requests
`
`under 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c) and (d) that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
`
`(“Board”) reconsider one aspect of its Decision Instituting Inter Partes Review of
`
`U.S. Patent No. 9,358,240 (“the ’240 patent”), entered Jan. 11, 2018 (Paper 10,
`
`hereinafter “Decision”). The Decision instituted trial as to whether claims 1–9 of
`
`the ’240 patent would have been obvious over Voswinckel, Patton, and Ghofrani.
`
`In instituting trial, the Board concluded “that Petitioner has provided a sufficient
`
`basis on which to conclude that Ghofrani was the work of another.” Decision, p.
`
`14. The Board misapprehended the legal standard in reaching this conclusion, and
`
`Petitioner failed to establish Ghofrani as prior art under the appropriate standard.1
`
`II. LEGAL STANDARD
`
`A party may request rehearing of a Board institution decision. 37 C.F.R. §
`
`42.71(d). “The request must specifically identify all matters the party believes the
`
`Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter was
`
`previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply.” 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d).
`
`1 Patent Owner disagrees with other parts of the decision and does not waive or
`
`forfeit its right to contest those issues in its Response or on appeal, specifically
`
`including the determination under 35 U.S.C. § 315(b), if relief is not granted on
`
`this request.
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`1
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`The Board will review the previous decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. §
`
`42.71(c). “An abuse of discretion may be indicated if a decision is based on an
`
`erroneous interpretation of law, if a factual finding is not supported by substantial
`
`evidence, or if the decision represents an unreasonable judgment in weighing
`
`relevant factors.” Palo Alto Networks, Inc. v. Juniper Networks, Inc., IPR2013-
`
`00369, Paper 39, 2–3 (PTAB Feb. 14, 2014) (citing Star Fruits S.N.C. v. United
`
`States, 393 F.3d 1277, 1281 (Fed. Cir. 2005)).
`
`III. ARGUMENT
`
`Patent Owner submitted declarations from multiple authors of Ghofrani,
`
`both a ’240 patent inventor and non-inventor authors, stating that the relevant
`
`portions of Ghofrani were the work of the inventors and not the work of the non-
`
`inventor authors. Patent Owner Preliminary Response, pp. 21-24. Yet the Board
`
`concluded “that Petitioner has provided a sufficient basis on which to conclude that
`
`Ghofrani was the work of another” and, thus, prior art under § 102(a). Decision, p.
`
`14. The Board based this conclusion on (a) a perceived ambiguity in the
`
`Declaration of Dr. Seeger (Ex. 2020, “Seeger Declaration”) as to the contribution
`
`of the non-author co-inventors to the relevant portion of Ghofrani, and (b) the
`
`authorship of Voswinckel (Ex. 1003, which includes the non-inventor Ghofrani co-
`
`authors). Decision, p. 14. The Board’s decision regarding the Seeger Declaration
`
`is a result of an erroneous interpretation of the law because it required a showing
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`not required by relevant precedent or PTO practice. In addition, the Board’s
`
`reliance on Voswinckel represents both an error of law and an inappropriate
`
`judgment in weighing the facts of record. Id. Neither the authorship of
`
`Voswinckel nor the Seeger Declaration creates a “genuine issue of material fact”
`
`that must be resolved in favor of the Petitioner under 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c).
`
`A. The Board Misapprehended Controlling Precedent By Requiring More
`Evidence Than Necessary To Prove Ghofrani Is Not By “Another”
`
`The question of whether Ghofrani is prior art turns on “whether Ghofrani is
`
`the work of another.” Decision, p. 12; 35 U.S.C. § 102(a). And the Board
`
`acknowledges that the four Ghofrani author declarations disclaim any contribution
`
`by the non-inventor authors to Ghofrani’s relevant passage and that the Seeger
`
`Declaration states that the relevant portion of Ghofrani originated with the
`
`inventors. Decision, pp. 12-13. Yet the Board found this evidence insufficient to
`
`disqualify Ghofrani as prior art. Specifically, the Board suggests that In re Land,
`
`368 F.2d 866, 881 (CCPA 1966), requires an additional evidentiary showing – that
`
`each named inventor, including the non-author co-inventors, contributed to the
`
`relevant portion of Ghofrani. Decision, pp. 13-14. This was legal error.
`
`Land does not articulate, much less apply, a requirement that a patent owner
`
`must demonstrate an individual contribution of any and all co-inventors to
`
`demonstrate that a reference is not by “another.” Indeed, no declarations were at
`
`issue in Land. Rather than imposing a per se rule, Land addressed the facts of that
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`case, which included explicit admissions of prior art individual work not present
`
`here. 368 F.2d at 881. Land merely stands for the proposition that a patent
`
`reference invented by Inventor A and a patent reference invented by Inventor B are
`
`not the same entity (i.e., they are “by another”) relative to a patent application
`
`being examined with A and B named together jointly as inventors.2 The Board’s
`
`extension of Land imposes an unprecedented requirement and burden inconsistent
`
`with the law.
`
`To determine whether a reference under 35 U.S.C. §102(a) is by “another”
`
`when it has overlapping authorship with an inventive entity, the patent owner
`
`needs only to provide declarations from non-inventor co-authors of the reference
`
`stating that they did not contribute to the relevant portion of the reference. In re
`
`Katz, 687 F.2d 450, 455 (CCPA 1982) (stating that “disclaimer” declarations from
`
`the non-inventor co-authors would have “ended the inquiry” even though not
`
`required). This is also consistent with PTO practice. See MPEP § 2132.01
`
`(“[W]here the applicant is one of the co-authors of a publication cited against his
`
`2 By contrast, the present case involves only a portion of Ghofrani applied under 35
`
`U.S.C. § 103 based on qualifying as a reference under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a) in
`
`combination with other references, where declarations have been provided to show
`
`that the only relevant portion of the Ghofrani reference originated with inventors
`
`named on the present patent.
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`or her application, the publication may be removed as a reference by the filing of
`
`affidavits made out by the other authors establishing that the relevant portions of
`
`the publication originated with, or were obtained from, applicant.”).3
`
`Even when a patent’s named inventors are not listed as authors of the
`
`publication, no additional evidence is required. “Unlike the inclusion of a non-
`
`inventor co-author on a publication, however, the omission of a named inventor
`
`from co-authorship has no significance for whether the publication is the work of
`
`‘others.’” Varian Med. Systs. v. Wm. Beaumont Hosp., IPR2016-00163, Paper 79,
`
`31 (PTAB May 4, 2017);4 Applied Materials Inc. v. Gemini Research Corp., 835
`
`F.2d 279 (Fed. Cir. 1987) (“[T]he fact that an application has named a different
`
`inventive entity than a patent does not necessarily make that patent prior
`
`3 Katz involved an anticipation rejection based upon the sole named inventor’s own
`
`work disclosed in conjunction with non-inventor co-authors.
`
`4 In Varian, the Board found that Jaffray 1999 JRO was not by another, even
`
`though only two of three co-inventors were named as co-authors, and a third non-
`
`author co-inventor, Dr. Siewerdsen, had not been shown to have contributed to the
`
`relevant portion of the publication. IPR2016-00163, Paper No. 79 at 21. The
`
`Board specifically rejected petitioner’s argument that the absent declarations from
`
`the non-author co-inventors “leave unresolved questions regarding the inventive
`
`entity of Jaffray 1999.” Id. at 31.
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`art….When the joint and sole inventions are related, as they are here, inventor A
`
`commonly discloses the invention of A & B in the course of describing his sole
`
`invention and when he so describes the invention of A & B he is not disclosing
`
`“prior art” to the A& B invention, even if he has legal status as “another.”)
`
`(citations and quotations omitted; quoting Land). The mere absence of co-
`
`inventors from Ghofrani’s authorship is not a sufficient basis upon which to
`
`require further evidence from Patent Owner where, as here, the non-inventor co-
`
`authors have stated that they did not contribute to the relevant portion of Ghofrani.
`
`See MPEP § 2132.01 (stating that “the publication may be removed as a reference
`
`by the filing of affidavits made out by the other [non-inventor] authors establishing
`
`that the relevant portions of the publication originated with, or were obtained from,
`
`applicant. Such affidavits are called disclaiming affidavits.”).
`
`Here, not only did Patent Owner provide disclaimer declarations from the
`
`non-inventor co-authors of Ghofrani, but Patent Owner also provided a declaration
`
`from co-inventor and co-author Dr. Seeger stating that the relevant portion of
`
`Ghofrani originated with the inventors.5 Patent Owner has thus exceeded the
`
`5 Dr. Seeger states that “[t]he idea to perform the underlying work described in this
`
`section originated with Dr. Voswinckel and myself, in view of our work with the
`
`other inventors listed on the ’507 patent” (emphasis added). Ex. 2020. Whether or
`
`not all of the other named co-inventors contributed to each claim in the patent and
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`requirements for disclaiming declarations and provided a “reasonable showing
`
`supporting” its position. Katz, 687 F.2d at 455.
`
`It is unclear if the Board is additionally citing Land for (1) the proposition
`
`that Ghofrani is prior art unless every named inventor contributed to the relevant
`
`portion of Ghofrani or (2) the proposition that any reference listing some, but not
`
`all, inventors shifts the burden to Patent Owner to prove inventorship. Both
`
`propositions are incorrect.
`
`As noted above, not every named inventor needs to have contributed to the
`
`relevant portion of the publication in order to prove that it is not by another.
`
`Varian, IPR2016-00163, Paper 79 at 28. Also, the MPEP does not require any
`
`particular level of contribution by the inventors, only a showing from the non-
`
`inventor authors that the relevant portion was “obtained from” the inventors.
`
`MPEP § 2132.01.
`
`Applying Land to require Patent Owner to show that non-author inventors
`
`contribute equally to the relevant portion of Ghofrani is also inconsistent with
`
`statute because different joint inventors may make different contributions. 35
`
`U.S.C. § 116(a) (amended after Land in relevant part in Pub. L. 98–622, title I,
`
`§104(a), Nov. 8, 1984, 98 Stat. 3384, to liberalize joint inventorship requirements);
`
`how much they contributed to each claim has no bearing on whether Ghofrani is
`
`the work of another.
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`see Ethicon Inc. v. U.S. Surgical Corp., 135 F.3d 1456, 1460 (Fed. Cir. 1998)
`
`(noting “each [joint inventor] needs to perform only a part of the task which
`
`produces the invention” and “a co-inventor need not make a contribution to every
`
`claim…. A contribution to one claim is enough.”). Moreover, not all of their
`
`contributions need to be reflected in the cited portion, particularly where, as here,
`
`the reference is part of a 35 U.S.C. § 103 combination. The Seeger Declaration
`
`accounted for the communication of the relevant contributions of all of the
`
`inventors to the article. Neither the law of inventorship nor any evidence of record
`
`provide any basis for viewing the declaration evidence as insufficient. Patent
`
`Owner has amply met its burden of production, and Petitioner has not met its
`
`burden of production or proof.
`
`Furthermore, the burden does not shift to the Patent Owner to prove
`
`inventorship based merely upon an absence of detail as to how each individual
`
`contributed to the relevant portion of the reference. The Board has rejected the
`
`assertion that submitting “declarations from only a subset of named inventors is
`
`per se insufficient to satisfy Katz.” Varian, IPR2016-00163, Paper 79 at 28. To
`
`the extent the Board requires more inventor testimony and overlooks the
`
`corroboration provided by the non-inventor testimony already of record, it
`
`misapprehended the proper focus of the inquiry. The Seeger Declaration’s
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`uncontradicted, unequivocal statement clearly establishes the fact that the relevant
`
`portion of Ghofrani was obtained from the inventors of the ’240 patent.
`
`B. The Board Erred In Finding Voswinckel’s Authorship Created A
`Genuine Issue Of Material Fact Regarding Whether Ghofrani
`Constitutes the Work of Another.
`
`The Board suggests that there is a genuine issue of material fact raised by
`
`the “narrow focus of Voswinckel and the potential that Voswinckel involved the
`
`same study as disclosed in Ghofrani.” Decision, p. 14; see Petitioner’s Reply, pp.
`
`4-5. This cannot create any “genuine issue of material fact as to the contribution of
`
`these non-inventors…by extension, to the relevant portions of Ghofrani”
`
`(Decision, p. 14) under the proper legal standard and proper weighing of the
`
`undisputed facts of record. Voswinckel is a conference abstract containing
`
`different material than Ghofrani, which is a journal publication. Nothing in the
`
`stated authorship of Voswinckel does or ought to affect the unrebutted statements
`
`in the declarations of the Ghofrani authors. Speculation of Petitioner’s counsel
`
`about a separate reference cannot create a genuine issue of material fact in the face
`
`of four sworn declarations regarding the authorship of Ghofrani. Katz, 687 F.2d at
`
`455 (finding that the Board should not have engaged in speculation as to coauthor
`
`roles in publication in view of inventor declaration that the coauthors worked
`
`under his direction and did not contribute to joint inventorship). To hold otherwise,
`
`improperly exalts attorney argument over record evidence. Id. (“[J]oint
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`inventorship cannot be inferred in the face of sworn statements to the contrary.”)
`
`Furthermore, authorship creates no presumption regarding inventorship. Id.; see
`
`Biotec Biologische Naturverpackungen v. Biocorp., Inc., 249 F.3d 1341, 1353
`
`(Fed. Cir. 2011) (conclusory assertions do not create issue of material fact).
`
`The standard for a “genuine issue of material fact” does not require a Patent
`
`Owner to answer every possible question that might be asked about a series of
`
`publications with overlapping material and authors. 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c); cf.
`
`Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986) (a party moving for summary
`
`judgment need not show an absence of a genuine issue of material fact but rather
`
`an absence of evidence supporting the non-moving party’s case).
`
`The issue of Voswinckel’s relevance to the veracity of the “disclaimer”
`
`declarations was first raised in Petitioner’s Reply. Because the issue was raised in
`
`Petitioner’s Reply, Patent Owner did not have the opportunity to direct the Board’s
`
`attention to paragraphs 10 and 11 of the Seeger Declaration (Ex. 2020), which
`
`address the contributions of the non-inventor co-authors of Ghofrani to
`
`Voswinckel:
`
`In general, when my research center submits abstracts to a conference
`or articles for publication, we include members of the research group
`who contributed in some way to the abstract or article as authors.
`
`For example, the abstract titled ‘Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension:
`New Therapies,’ [Voswinckel] which I understand was submitted by
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`Watson as Exhibit 1003, lists as authors members of my research
`center who contributed by performing the administrative work
`supporting the trial, taking care of patients enrolled in the trial, and/or
`collecting data for the trial. Drs. Ghofrani, Reichenberger, and
`Grimminger are among the authors who contributed to the trial in this
`manner.
`
`Ex. 2020, ¶¶10-11. Notably, Petitioner’s Reply regarding Voswinckel failed to
`
`address this portion of the Seeger Declaration, which clearly explains
`
`Voswinckel’s inclusion of the non-inventor Ghofrani authors.
`
`Overlooking this portion of the Seeger Declaration amounts to an
`
`unreasonable weighing of the facts of record. 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c). The Board
`
`misapprehended the material-fact standard in 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c) in Petitioner’s
`
`favor by giving weight to mere attorney speculation and unpermitted presumptions,
`
`rather than record evidence.
`
`IV. CONCLUSION
`
`For at least the reasons provided above, Patent Owner respectfully requests
`
`reconsideration on the institution decision regarding claims 1–9 of the ’240 patent
`
`under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious over Voswinckel, Patton, and Ghofrani.
`
`Date: January 25, 2018
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`/Stephen B. Maebius/
`Stephen B. Maebius
`Registration No. 35,264
`
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`George E. Quillin
`Registration No. 32,792
`
`Foley & Lardner LLP
`3000 K Street, N.W.
`Suite 600
`Washington, D.C. 20007
`
`Shaun R. Snader
`Registration No. 59,987
`United Therapeutics Corporation
`1735 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
`Second Floor
`Washington, DC 20009
`
`Counsel for Patent Owner
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01621
`
`
`
`
`Request for Rehearing
`
`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
`
`The undersigned certifies that a copy of the foregoing PATENT OWNER
`REQUEST FOR REHEARING UNDER 37 C.F.R. § 42.71 is being served on
`January 25, 2018, by filing this document through the PTAB E2E System as well
`
`as delivering copies via email to the following counsel for the Petitioner:
`Michael K. Nutter (Reg. No. 44,979)
`WINSTON & STRAWN LLP
`35 W. Wacker Dr.
`Chicago, IL 60601
`Email: mnutter@winston.com
`
`Andrew R. Sommer (Reg. No. 53,932)
`WINSTON & STRAWN LLP
`1700 K Street, N.W.
`Washington, DC 20006-3817
`Email: asommer@winston.com
`
`Kurt A. Mathas
`WINSTON & STRAWN LLP
`35 W. Wacker Dr.
`Chicago, IL 60601
`Email: kmathas@winston.com
`
`/Stephen B. Maebius/
`
`Stephen B. Maebius
`Registration No. 35,264
`
`George E. Quillin
`Registration No. 32,792
`
`Shaun R. Snader
`Registration No. 59,987
`
`Counsel for Patent Owner
`
`
`
`4825-8954-3515.1
`
`

This document is available on Docket Alarm but you must sign up to view it.


Or .

Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.

After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.

Accept $ Charge
throbber

Still Working On It

This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.

Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.

throbber

A few More Minutes ... Still Working

It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.

Thank you for your continued patience.

This document could not be displayed.

We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

Set your membership status to view this document.

With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll get a whole lot more, including:

  • Up-to-date information for this case.
  • Email alerts whenever there is an update.
  • Full text search for other cases.
  • Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.

Become a Member

One Moment Please

The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.

Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.

Your document is on its way!

If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.

Sealed Document

We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.

If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.


Access Government Site

We are redirecting you
to a mobile optimized page.





Document Unreadable or Corrupt

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket

We are unable to display this document.

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket