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A helpful guide for applicants to navigate through the most common options in responding to a final office action at the USPTO.

The EverEdge team has assembled an expert panel of IP and business leaders including our founder, Michael Dilworth. Join us on December 8, 2021 to discuss how companies whose valuation is derived heavily from their intangible assets attract far more capital investment over time.

For the third year in a row, Dilworth IP partner, Ben Lehberger, has been recognized by the national rating service, Super Lawyers, as a Top Rated Intellectual Property Attorney for 2021.

Michael Dilworth, our founder, was featured on the “IAM Strategy 300” Global Leaders Guide, as a leading figure in the IP world.

IP protection includes patents to prevent theft of original concepts, trademarks to safeguard brand identify, copyrights to protect literary and artistic works, and trade secrets to preserve the secrecy of confidential information that gives your business a competitive edge.

IP assets are a powerful resource for driving revenue growth and stronger returns on the company’s innovation investments. Learn how in this article on leveraging the power of IP.

Dilworth IP is very excited to announce that our new website, launched earlier this year to more accurately represent the culture and values of our firm, has been chosen from over 200,000 entries as a Platinum Winner of the prestigious Hermes Award—an honor awarded to only 1% of applicants. The Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition that is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), and recognizes excellence in the concept and design of marketing programs. Entries are submitted from a wide array of industries, and are judged at random on a point system according to their particular merits rather than directly compared to other entries

The ‘209 Patent includes method claims where folic acid and a methylmalonic acid lowering agent (e.g., vitamin B12) are administered prior to treatment with the antifolate pemetrexed disodium, a chemotherapy agent.[3]  The folic acid and methylmalonic acid are used to ameliorate the toxic effects of the pemetrexed.[4]  The heart of the Board’s conclusion was that although it was known to use folic acid to reduce the toxicity of antifolates such as pemetrexed, there was no reason to pretreat with vitamin B12 and folic acid prior to treatment with pemetrexed for cancer.[5]  On appeal, the Petitioner’s obviousness arguments related to the EP005 reference, which taught use of folic acid in conjunction with vitamin B12 to reduce homocysteine levels for all purposes.[6]  Homocysteine is an amino acid, and when present in high levels is predictive of pemetrexed toxicity.[7]  On its face this appears to be a solid case for obviousness.  Indeed, those arguing against motivation to combine during patent prosecution have almost certainly encountered an Examiner’s response referencing MPEP 2144IV at one time or the other:

Trade secret law provides protection for information that its owner takes reasonable measures to keep secret and that derives independent economic value from not being generally known or readily ascertainable. If a trade secret is misappropriated by another, the owner may be entitled to damages, an injunction preventing further use or disclosure of the trade secret, and in some cases the recovery of attorneys’ fees.

In Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Teva[1] the Federal Circuit has further clarified the patent eligibility of treatment methods which include natural elements.  The Opinion, which includes comparisons with other cases such as Vanda[2], CellzDirect[3] and Ariosa Diagnostics[4], leaves one crafting such claims on ground that is fairly firm.