Let's get straight to the Litigator the Week runners-up and shout outs this morning.

David Frazier and Michael Morin and associate Reba Rabenstein of Latham & Watkins get a runner-up nod for their win in the first virtual patent bench trial to push off in Massachusetts. Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs found for their client, pharmaceutical company Astellas, in a case against ImStem Biotechnology. After a 2 1/2-week bench trial, the judge sided with Astellas on who should be listed as the inventor for technology related to the generation of mesenchymal stem cells. 

Also landing runner-up honors this week is a team from Kirkland & Ellis led by partner Amanda Hollis, Kourtney Baltzer and Dan Gross representing rapid diagnostic maker Alere. The Kirkland team won final judgment from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that claims brought by patent enforcement entity Rembrandt were unpatentable. The decision reverses an earlier finding and is among the first where the PTAB has zapped all claims since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its 2018 decision in SAS Institute v Iancu holding that the PTAB has to reach final judgment on all contested patent claims in cases like Alere's. The ruling covers all the claims Rembrandt is asserting against Alere in parallel district court proceedings in San Diego where Kirkland is also counsel.