Novartis AG v. Ezra Ventures LLC, No. 17-2284 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 7, 2018)

From the Opinion

The passage below is extracted verbatim from the opening of the document. It has not been editorially summarized — consult the full opinion for the court's complete reasoning.

SUMMARY This case concerns the interplay between a patent term extension (PTE) granted pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 156 and the obviousness-type double patenting doctrine. The Delaware District Court concluded that, in accordance with statutory construction principles and as a logical extension of this court’s holding in Merck & Co. v. Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co. , 482 F.3d 1317 (Fed. Cir. 2007) , obviou s- ness-type double patenting does not invalidate an othe r- wise validly obtained PTE under § 156. We agree and accordingly affirm.