On Monday, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in the Saint Regis Mohawk v. Mylan case, bringing to a close a nearly 18-month-long attempt to sell tribal sovereign immunity as a shield against the inter partes review (IPR) process.
Tag Archive for sovereign immunity
Federal Circuit Holds Tribal Sovereign Immunity Does Not Apply In IPR
by Josh Landau •
Today, in Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, the Federal Circuit held that tribal sovereign immunity does not provide a right of immunity in inter partes reviews (IPR). In an opinion by Judge Moore, writing for herself and Judges Dyk and Reyna, the Federal Circuit focused on the PTO Director’s ability to decide whether…
Sovereign Immunity, Upper Skagit, and Patents
by Josh Landau •
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court released their decision in Upper Skagit Indian Tribe v. Lundgren. The opinion effectively held that the simple fact of in rem jurisdiction does not always bar claims of tribal sovereign immunity. In rem jurisdiction is one argument that might bar the new practice of renting tribal sovereign immunity to…
Senate Introduces Bill To Prevent Abuse Of Sovereign Immunity
by Josh Landau •
Yesterday Senators Cotton, McCaskill, Toomey, Ernst, and Perdue introduced the Preserving Access to Cost Effective Drugs (PACED) Act, a bill which would help prevent sovereign immunity from being abused to prevent invalid patents from being struck down by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. As Patent Progress has previously described, sovereign immunity has been abused…
PTAB Rejects Allergan’s Tribal Sovereign Immunity Claim
by Josh Landau •
On Friday, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a ruling rejecting Allergan’s sovereign immunity claims. As Patent Progress has previously described [1][2][3], Allergan sold their patents to a Native American tribe, licensed them back, and required the tribe to claim sovereign immunity against inter partes reviews. But, as also previously described here, there…
Starting Off 2018 With More Sovereign Immunity
by Josh Landau •
2018 started off with a sovereign immunity bang, with the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe filing a motion that implicitly suggests that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) would only rule against them due to financial self-interest and political pressure. (For more background on the Allergan/Saint Regis Mohawk IPRs, you can read my earlier posts…
Tribal Immunity May Not Be Wonder Drug For Allergan
by Josh Landau •
This article was originally published on Law360 and is reprinted here. You’ve probably already heard the story. Allergan PLC owns patents related to relieving dry eyes. These patents allegedly read on their drug Restasis. They expired in 2014, leading to a group of generic manufacturers getting ready to enter the market with generic versions of the drug. In…
Why Pay For Delay When You Can Pay For Immunity
by Josh Landau •
What do Seymour Cray’s high-performance computing research company SRC Labs and drug manufacturer Allergan have in common? Both SRC Labs and Allergan sold patents to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, then licensed them back from the tribe, in order to use tribal sovereign immunity to prevent challenges to their patents as invalid.