`
`
`
`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
`Patent No. 9,339,507
`Issue Date: May 17, 2016
`
`Title: TREPROSTINIL ADMINISTRATION BY INHALATION
`_______________
`
`Inter Partes Review No. 2017-01621
`Inter Partes Review No. 2017-01622
`____________________________________________________________
`
`PATENT OWNER’S UNOPPOSED MOTION TO EXPUNGE
`UNDER 37 C.F.R. § 42.561
`
`
`
`
`
`1 A word-for-word identical document is being filed in IPR2017-01621 and
`IPR2017-1622.
`
`4812-6969-4320.1
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01621
`IPR2017-01622
`
`
`INTRODUCTION
`
`I.
`
`
`
`
`
`Patent Owner’s Motion to Expunge
`
`Under 37 C.F.R. § 42.56, Patent Owner United Therapeutics Corporation
`
`(“Patent Owner”) hereby moves to permanently expunge certain confidential
`
`information from the record, namely the unredacted versions of Exhibits 2049-
`
`2051, 2053, 2055, 2058, 2065-2068, 2071, 2074, 2075, 2083, 2088, 2089, and
`
`2204 in their entireties. Patent Owner has conferred with counsel for Watson
`
`Laboratories, Inc., (“Petitioner”) on this matter, and Petitioner does not oppose this
`
`motion. The identified documents all disclose and discuss confidential information
`
`that could be improperly used by competitors to gain unfair business and
`
`competitive advantage with customers in the marketplace.
`
`If the Board is not inclined to grant this motion, Patent Owner respectfully
`
`requests a conference call with the Board to discuss the issues raised in this motion
`
`before any information becomes irreversibly public.
`
`II. AUTHORIZATION FOR THE MOTION
`
`Patent Owner contacted the Board by email for authorization on August 29,
`
`2018 to file a motion to expunge under 37 C.F.R. § 42.56 and received
`
`authorization to do so on August 30, 2018.
`
`III.
`
`IDENTIFICATION OF PAPERS AND EXHIBITS TO BE
`EXPUNGED
`
`The following list identifies the non-redacted exhibits to be expunged:
`
`4812-6969-4320.1
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01621
`IPR2017-01622
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Patent Owner’s Motion to Expunge
`
`Non-redacted Exhibits
`Ex. 2049
`Ex. 2050
`Ex. 2051
`Ex. 2053
`Ex. 2055
`Ex. 2058
`Ex. 2065
`Ex. 2066
`Ex. 2067
`Ex. 2068
`Ex. 2071
`Ex. 2074
`Ex. 2075
`Ex. 2083
`Ex. 2088
`Ex. 2089
`Ex. 2204
`
`
`
`Exhibits 2049-2051, 2055, 2058, 2065-2068, 2071, 2074, 2075, 2083, 2088,
`
`and 2089 were filed under seal in their entireties. Redacted, public versions of
`
`Exhibits 2053 and 2204 were filed pursuant to motions to seal. To be clear, Patent
`
`Owner is not seeking to have the redacted, public versions expunged.
`
`4812-6969-4320.1
`
`2
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01621
`IPR2017-01622
`
`IV. REASONS FOR ENTITLEMENT TO RELIEF
`
`Patent Owner’s Motion to Expunge
`
`
`
`
`
`Each of the redacted documents contains information that the Board has already
`
`ruled upon and determined to be confidential, so good cause has already been
`
`found by the Board for sealing this information.
`
`The PTAB Trial Practice Guide states that confidential information “ordinarily”
`
`becomes public 45 days after final judgment in a trial. Office Patent Trial Practice
`
`Guide, 77 Fed. Reg. 48756, 48761 (Aug. 14, 2012); see also Comment 172, 77
`
`Fed. Reg. 48612, 48644. The Board’s rules, however, “aim to strike a balance
`
`between the public’s interest in maintaining a complete and understandable file
`
`history and the parties’ interest in protecting truly sensitive information.” Office
`
`Patent Trial Practice Guide, 77 Fed. Reg. 48,756, 48,760 (Aug. 14, 2012).
`
`In the present case, a settlement was reached and the proceeding has been
`
`terminated prior to the issuance of a final written decision. Redacted, public
`
`versions of certain exhibits were filed and already exist in the docket. Making the
`
`sealed documents public at this time would prejudice Patent Owner for the reasons
`
`set forth below and in the previous motions to seal.
`
`The Board’s Order Granting Joint Motion to Terminate the Proceeding After
`
`Institution and Request to Treat Settlement Agreement as Business Confidential
`
`Information (Paper No. 64) contains no confidential information and can be fully
`
`understood by the public. Whereas the public would not benefit from revealing the
`
`4812-6969-4320.1
`
`3
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01621
`IPR2017-01622
`
`confidential information, Patent Owner could be placed at a competitive
`
`Patent Owner’s Motion to Expunge
`
`
`
`
`
`disadvantage.
`
`V. CONCLUSION
`
`For the reasons set forth above and in the previous motions to seal, Patent
`
`Owner respectfully requests that the aforementioned exhibits be expunged from the
`
`record.
`
`
`Date: Sept. 5, 2018
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`/Stephen B. Maebius/
`
`Stephen B. Maebius
`Registration No. 35,264
`
`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
`
`4812-6969-4320.1
`
`4
`
`
`
`
`
`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
`
`The undersigned certifies that a copy of the foregoing PATENT OWNER’S
`UNOPPOSED MOTION TO EXPUNGE UNDER 37 C.F.R. § 42.56 is being
`served on Sept. 5, 2018 by filing them 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
`
`
`
`4812-6969-4320.1
`
`/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
`
`
Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.
After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.
Accept $ Charge
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.
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.
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
