US Supreme Court Asked to Take Patent Decision Out of Juries’ Hands

The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to take juries out of the decisionmaking process when the court is deciding whether a patent should be invalidated because of obviousness. The precedent was set on patent cases that center on obviousness in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court took the position that lay juries can render verdicts that preclude independent judicial determination of the ultimate question of patent validity. In a case that could apply to drug patents, devicemaker Medela is petitioning the Supreme Court to determine that a judge, not a lay jury, should decide whether a patent is obvious.
Drug Industry Daily