by  S. Laura Chung

On February 23, 2011, the U.S. Federal Circuit Court reversed the District Court’s finding of Abbott’s patent infringement of Centocor’s TNF antibody patent. This case reveals important aspects of the U.S. law regarding the written description requirement and the Continuation-In-Part practice.

The U.S. practice of Continuation-In-Part (CIP) allows patent applicants to retain the priority date of the subject matter disclosed in a prior filed application when a subsequent application on the same or related subject matter is filed as a CIP application rather than a new patent application. This practice is unique to the U.S. prosecution and often overlooked by patent practitioners outside of the United States. However, when an inventor files two or more patent applications regarding a related subject, the CIP practice may provide various advantages in comparison to the filing of a completely new patent application. —click here to read more—