by Dennis Crouch Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., v. Roxane Laboratories, Inc. (Supreme Court 2019) Obviousness is the core doctrine of patentability and primary focus of both patent examination and post issuances PTAB challenges. In this case, Acorda has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to spend some time on this important doctrine — and particularly consider the role of objective indicia of nonobviousness such as “commercial success, long felt but unsolved needs, [and] failure of others.” Quoting Deere. The question presented is whether objective indicia of nonobviousness may be partially or entirely discounted where the development of the invention was allegedly “blocked” by the existence of a prior patent, and, if so, whether an “implicit finding” that an invention was “blocked,” without a finding of actual blocking, is sufficient to conclude that an infringer has met its burden of proof. The infringement lawsuit…
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