Allergan wins Federal Circuit limit on obviousness-type double patenting in Viberzi case

The Federal Circuit held that a later-filed, later-issued, earlier-expiring family member was not a proper ODP reference against Allergan's earlier patent.

Allergan's Hatch-Waxman dispute with MSN Laboratories produced one of 2024's most important obviousness-type double patenting rulings.

The Federal Circuit rejected the use of a later-filed, later-issued, earlier-expiring patent in the same family as an ODP reference against an earlier patent sharing the same priority date.

For life-sciences portfolio strategy, the case matters because patent-family sequencing, PTA, PTE, and terminal-disclaimer decisions can affect real generic-launch timelines.

The decision should be part of IPDispatch's Hatch-Waxman backbone for 2024 because it connects prosecution architecture to litigation leverage.

Allergan wins Federal Circuit limit on obviousness-type double patenting in Viberzi case

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