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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Attaca Limited v Millenium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Patent) [2006] UKIntelP o00306 (5 January 2006) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2006/o00306.html Cite as: [2006] UKIntelP o306, [2006] UKIntelP o00306 |
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For the whole decision click here: o00306
Summary
The patent relates to genes which are differentially expressed in tumor cells; specifically to genes identified in mice (fomy030) and in humans (fohy030). The claimant alleged that the invention was not new on the basis of thirteen documents which were stated to be in the public domain prior to the publication of the patent. According to information provided by the defendant the earliest publication date of any of the thirteen documents was nearly sixteen months after the priority date and nearly four months after the filing date of the patent. It was held that none of these documents formed part of the state of the art in relation to the claimed invention and therefore none of them destroyed the novelty of the invention. The hearing officer did not come to a view on whether the invention involved an inventive step because the claimant did not provide any reasoned grounds and evidence to support such an attack.