Chemical and pharmaceutical companies protect research and development and investment in future companies by securing patents on inventions. Patents help resist the competition. The success or failure of a company often depends on the strength of the patent. The words of the patent document must fulfill strict formal requirements of patent law. Even if the invention subject to the patent is wonderful, the court renounces the patent if it violates any formal requirement.
The patent literature usually includes several sections, for example one section explaining the background of the invention, another section describing the invention as a summary, another section explaining the drawing of the invention, And to enumerate various aspects of your invention from numbered sentences, typically from 1 to 20 in the last clause. These numbered sentences or claims form the most important part of the patent.
It is a claim to define the present invention. When a competitor wants to design around your invention, he will turn to the word of assertion. When you sue someone by infringing on the invention, the court examines your patent claims. Clearly the claim is the most important.
This patent includes independent and dependent claims. Dependent claims refer to previous claims. Independent claims do not refer to other complaints. For example, dependent claim 2 refers to independent claim 1. If the dependent claims refer to other claims, they must meet certain rigorous formal requirements, one of which is that the subordinate claims are not bolder than their claims. Thus, for example, where claim 1 describes a drug in acid form or salt form thereof, claim 2 can describe a drug in salt form. However, if claim 1 describes only the acid form, claim 2 can not describe the salt form. If that is so, Claim 2 would be more bold than Claim 1 hidden under Patent Act.
In a recent battle between Pfizer Inc., a leading pharmaceutical company and Ranbaxy Laboratories, a generic drug manufacturer, a generic drug manufacturer was able to knockout a patent of Pfizer that covers the big hit drug Lipitor. The claims claimed by Pfizer against Ranbaxy were invalidated by the High Court. Here, Pfizer claims claim 6 on the calcium salt of the drug against the other party. Claim 6 according to claim 2, which describes not the salt form but the acid form of the drug. Claim 6 argued that claim 2 can not be referred to properly. The harsh result faced by Pfizer was similar to lower court, lower court related to finding flaws in claims.
The High Court's opinion emphasizes the fact that submitting a winning patent requires careful consideration of various legal concepts, including complex formal requirements of patent law.
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