At a time when the chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are increasingly focused on protecting their inventions, intellectual property law firm Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner has published a free e-book that provides a summary of the top trends in patent filings and litigation in those three industries.
The 250-page e-book, “The Chemical and Pharmaceutical Innovation Report 2013,” was posted Monday on Finnegan’s website.
“In the competitive chemical and pharmaceutical industries, patents protect products that have years of research and development invested in them,” said Finnegan partner Adriana Burgy, who edited the e-book. “We hope this book will be a resource that will help inform patent strategy for both in-house counsel and outside law firms working in these industries.”
Among the book’s contents are case summaries that can be a useful tool for corporate counsel who want to quickly get up to speed on case law, she said, noting that one section of the book is dedicated to case law from the Federal Circuit and District Courts—searchable by keyword.
“The book also looks at trends in issued patents and published patent applications,” Burgy said, which can be used to track how terms are evolving in patent claims.
Green technology, cancer therapy and brain technology, for example, are terms that have become more prominent in the past few years, she noted.
The e-book examines chemical and pharmaceutical industry patent activities, with chapters focusing on:
- Patenting and Application Publication Trends
- District Court Litigation Trends
- Appellate Litigation Trends
- The America Invents Act
- Chemical and Pharmaceutical Federal Circuit Cases from 2006 to 2012
The “Innovation Report” also lists litigation trends by technology, issues on appeal and jurisdiction, and provides analyses of final decisions from U.S. district courts and appellate courts. The book shows the evolution of certain claim terms across technologies and offers concise summaries of changes under the America Invents Act (AIA). It also includes detailed patent-filing trends for the top 15 chemical and pharmaceutical companies on the 2012 Fortune 500 list, and has a categorized listing of Federal Circuit decisions from 2006 to 2012.
Finnegan plans to update the e-book annually, Burgy said, hoping it will serve as a benchmark for the post-AIA era. The firm also released a podcast interview with Burgy discussing the e-book.
