Filed: Sep. 28, 2020
Latest Update: Sep. 28, 2020
Summary: Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 1 Filed: 09/28/2020 United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit _ BIOGEN MA INC., Plaintiff -Appellee v. EMD SERONO, INC., PFIZER INC., Defendants-Appellants BAYER HEALTHCARE PHARMACEUTICALS INC., NOVARTIS PHARMACEUTICALS CORPORATION, Defendants _ 2019-1133 _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in No. 2:10-cv-02734-CCC-MF, United States District Judge Claire C. Cecchi. _ Decided: September 28, 2020 _ NICHOLAS P.
Summary: Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 1 Filed: 09/28/2020 United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit _ BIOGEN MA INC., Plaintiff -Appellee v. EMD SERONO, INC., PFIZER INC., Defendants-Appellants BAYER HEALTHCARE PHARMACEUTICALS INC., NOVARTIS PHARMACEUTICALS CORPORATION, Defendants _ 2019-1133 _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in No. 2:10-cv-02734-CCC-MF, United States District Judge Claire C. Cecchi. _ Decided: September 28, 2020 _ NICHOLAS P. G..
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Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 1 Filed: 09/28/2020
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
BIOGEN MA INC.,
Plaintiff -Appellee
v.
EMD SERONO, INC., PFIZER INC.,
Defendants-Appellants
BAYER HEALTHCARE PHARMACEUTICALS INC.,
NOVARTIS PHARMACEUTICALS CORPORATION,
Defendants
______________________
2019-1133
______________________
Appeal from the United States District Court for the
District of New Jersey in No. 2:10-cv-02734-CCC-MF,
United States District Judge Claire C. Cecchi.
______________________
Decided: September 28, 2020
______________________
NICHOLAS P. GROOMBRIDGE, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind,
Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York, NY, argued for plain-
tiff-appellee. Also represented by PETER SANDEL, ERIC
ALAN STONE, JENNY CHIA CHENG WU, JOSEPHINE YOUNG;
DAVID J. BALL, JR., Washington, DC; JOHN D. TORTORELLA,
KEVIN H. MARINO, Marino Tortorella & Boyle, PC, Chat-
ham, NJ.
Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 2 Filed: 09/28/2020
2 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
MARK ANDREW PERRY, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP,
Washington, DC, argued for defendants-appellants. Also
represented by CHRISTINE RANNEY, Denver, CO; WAYNE M.
BARSKY, TIMOTHY P. BEST, Los Angeles, CA; JAYSEN
CHUNG, San Francisco, CA.
BRUCE GENDERSON, Williams & Connolly LLP, Wash-
ington, DC, for amicus curiae Bayer Healthcare Pharma-
ceuticals Inc. Also represented by DAVID I. BERL, SETH
BOWERS, DAVID M. KRINSKY.
______________________
Before NEWMAN, LINN, and HUGHES, Circuit Judges.
LINN, Circuit Judge.
This appeal arises from a suit filed by Biogen MA, Inc.
(“Biogen”) against EMD Serono, Inc. and Pfizer, Inc. (col-
lectively “Serono”) in the District of New Jersey. 1 The suit
alleged contributory and induced infringement of Biogen’s
U.S. Patent Number 7,588,755 (“’755 patent”) by the sale
and marketing in the United States of Rebif, a recombinant
interferon-β (“IFN-β”) product used for the treatment of
Multiple Sclerosis (“MS”). After a five-week trial, a jury
found that the ’755 patent claims were anticipated by two
references teaching the use of native IFN-β to treat viral
diseases: Kingham et al., Treatment of HBsAg-positive
Chronic Active Hepatitis with Human Fibroblast Inter-
feron, 19(2) Gut 91 (1978) (“Kingham”) and Sundmacher et
1 Biogen also asserted infringement claims against
Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Bayer”) and No-
vartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. (“Novartis”). The actions
against Bayer and Novartis were severed from those giving
rise to this appeal. Order Granting Bayer’s Motion to
Sever, Oct. 27, 2017, ECF No. 743. Bayer filed an amicus
brief here.
Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 3 Filed: 09/28/2020
BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC. 3
al., Human Leukocyte and Fibroblast Interferon in a Com-
bination Therapy of Dendritic Keratitis, 208(4) Albrecht
von Graefes Archiv für Klinische & Experimentelle Opthal-
mologie 229 (1978) (“Sundmacher”). The jury also held the
asserted claims not invalid for lack of enablement or writ-
ten description, or for obviousness. Finally, the jury held
that patients and prescribers directly infringed the as-
serted claims and that Serono contributorily infringed the
claims but did not induce infringement thereof.
On cross-motions, the district court granted judgment
as a matter of law (“JMOL”) of no anticipation in favor of
Biogen and conditionally granted a new trial on anticipa-
tion. In re Biogen ’755 Patent Litig.,
335 F. Supp. 3d 688
(D.N.J. 2018) (“Biogen I”). The district court also ruled in
favor of Biogen: sustaining the jury’s verdict of no invalid-
ity based on written description or enablement; overturn-
ing the verdict of no induced infringement; sustaining the
verdict of contributory infringement; and holding that the
’755 patent claims were not patent ineligible.
Id. Serono
appeals the district court’s JMOL rulings on anticipation,
written description, enablement, contributory infringe-
ment, induced infringement and patent eligibility. We
have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a).
Because a reasonable jury could find the claims of the
’755 patent anticipated on the record presented in this
case, we reverse the district court’s JMOL of no anticipa-
tion and its conditional grant of new trial on that ground.
We remand with instructions to reinstate the jury verdict
of anticipation. We need not and do not address the other
grounds asserted on appeal.
I
The ’755 patent is directed to a method of treating a
viral condition, a viral disease, cancers or tumors, by ad-
ministration of a pharmaceutically effective amount of a
recombinant polypeptide related to human interferon-β
(“IFN-β”). The human immune system naturally produces
Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 4 Filed: 09/28/2020
4 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
IFN-β in small amounts, and it is undisputed that IFN-β
harvested from human cells (“native IFN-β”) was used in
the prior art to treat viral conditions. See ’755 patent, col.
2, l. 53–col. 4, l. 22.
Representative claim 1 of the ’755 patent reads:
1. A method for immunomodulation or treating a
viral condition[ ], a viral disease, cancers or tu-
mors comprising the step of administering to a
patient in need of such treatment a therapeuti-
cally effective amount of a composition compris-
ing:
a recombinant polypeptide produced by a
non-human host transformed by a recombi-
nant DNA molecule comprising a DNA se-
quence selected from the group consisting
of:
(a) DNA sequences which are capa-
ble of hybridizing to any of the DNA
inserts of G-pBR322(Pst)/HFIF1,
G-pBR322(Pst)/HFIF3 (DSM
1791), G-pBR322(Pst)/HFIF6
(DSM 1792), and G-
pBR322(Pst)/HFIF7 (DSM 1793)
under hybridizing conditions of
0.75 M NaCl at 68° C. and washing
conditions of 0.3 M NaCl at 68° C.,
and which code for a polypeptide
displaying antiviral activity, and
(b) DNA sequences which are de-
generate as a result of the genetic
code to the DNA sequences defined
in (a);
said DNA sequence being operatively
linked to an expression control sequence in
the recombinant DNA molecule.
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BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC. 5
’755 patent, col. 49, l. 59–col. 50, l. 12. Dependent claim 2
replaces the “capable of hybridizing” limitation with a se-
lection from two particular DNA sequences, one of which is
the DNA sequence of human interferon-beta.
Id. at col. 50,
ll. 13–52. Claims 1 and 2 thus define the claimed polypep-
tide by reference to the DNA sequence inserted into the
host during the recombinant manufacture of the polypep-
tide. Claim 3, dependent from claim 1, limits the polypep-
tide to a particular linear polypeptide sequence. Because
the claimed IFN-β DNA and polypeptide sequences are de-
rived from human IFN-β, it is indisputable that native hu-
man IFN-β is capable of hybridizing with the DNA
sequences in claim 1, is produced by one of the DNA se-
quences laid out in claim 2, and comprises the amino acid
sequence set out in claim 3. See J.A. 47784 (Fiers Aff. to
the Canadian Patent Office, indicating that the recombi-
nant IFN-β was derived from human IFN-β cDNA);
J.A. 77897 (Dr. Green Test., testifying that the sequences
claimed in claim 1 are “DNA that will hybridize to one of
the four human beta interferon clones”); J.A. 77904 (Dr.
Green Test., testifying that accused-product Rebif is capa-
ble of hybridizing to one or more of the DNA inserts be-
cause the DNA sequence it used is identical to the
published sequence of human IFN-β). For purposes of this
opinion, we refer to “recombinant IFN-β” as shorthand for
the recombinant protein that meets these claim limita-
tions.
During Markman, the district court held that claim 1
covers a “one-step method of ‘administering’ to a patient in
need the specified recombinant HuIFN-β.” Markman
Opinion at 17, Mar. 28, 2016, ECF No. 403. The district
court considered the claimed “produced” and “transformed”
steps “merely descriptive of the recombinant polypeptide to
be administered,” i.e. merely source limitations.
Id. at 15.
The district court also held that it was “unclear that [the]
method of treatment claim can be treated as a product-by-
process claim,” and that it was “aware of no binding
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6 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
precedent requiring method of treatment claims to be
treated as product-by-process claims in the claim construc-
tion context.”
Id. at 14. The district court did not construe
“polypeptide,” “therapeutically effective amount,” or “anti-
viral activity,” and neither party asked the court to con-
sider whether the claims covered the linear sequence of
amino acids or the three-dimensional structure of the pro-
tein.
Biogen, Serono, and Bayer all moved for summary
judgment. Before Bayer was severed, Bayer argued that it
was entitled to summary judgment of anticipation because
the claimed recombinant IFN-β and the prior art native
IFN-β shared the same linear amino acid sequence. The
district court denied Bayer’s motion, holding, inter alia,
that the claims require the polypeptide to have “antiviral
activity” and be administered in a “therapeutically effec-
tive amount.” Summary Judgment Opinion at 28, Jan. 9,
2018, ECF No. 892. The district court concluded that those
requirements necessitate that the polypeptide “be folded
into its appropriate three-dimensional structure,” and that
Bayer was therefore not entitled to summary judgment of
anticipation by merely showing that the amino acid se-
quence of recombinant IFN-β and the amino acid sequence
of native IFN-β were identical.
Id.
After a five-week trial, Biogen and Serono both moved
for JMOL under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a). The
district court deferred ruling until the jury verdict. Among
other issues, the court submitted anticipation, obvious-
ness, enablement, written description, and contributory
and induced infringement to the jury. In its charge on an-
ticipation, the district court told the jury that “[t]he term
‘polypeptide’ means ‘a linear array of amino acids con-
nected one to the other by peptide bonds between the α-
amino and carboxy groups of adjacent amino acids,’” and
that the jury “must accept my definition of these words in
the claims as correct.” Final Jury Instructions at 17, Feb.
21, 2018, ECF No. 968. Biogen did not object to these
Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 7 Filed: 09/28/2020
BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC. 7
instructions and did not request any instruction defining
the polypeptide in terms of its three-dimensional structure
or requiring identity of the three-dimensional structures of
native IFN-β and recombinant IFN-β proteins to establish
anticipation.
The jury held, inter alia, that all claims in the ’755 pa-
tent were invalid as anticipated by native IFN-β; not inva-
lid for obviousness, lack of enablement or lack of written
description; and that Serono was liable for contributory in-
fringement but not induced infringement. Jury Verdict
Form at 1–6, Feb. 23, 2018, ECF No. 977.
Both parties renewed their JMOL motions. As rele-
vant here, the district court granted Biogen’s motion of no
anticipation as a matter of law. Biogen
I, 335 F. Supp. 3d
at 713. In a comprehensive opinion, the district court held
that no reasonable jury could find anticipation under Ser-
ono’s reading of the claims. First, applying a structural
reading of the recombinant limitations, the district court
held that Serono had not identified any prior art that dis-
closed “treatment with a ‘therapeutically effective amount’
of a composition comprising a ‘recombinant’ interferon-β
polypeptide produced in a ‘non-human host’ that had been
‘transformed by a recombinant DNA molecule.’”
Id. at 704.
[JA21]. The district court reasoned that because treat-
ment in the prior art entailed administration of native
IFN-β, which was undisputedly not recombinantly pro-
duced, no reasonable jury could find anticipation.
Id. at
705. The district court cited but did not distinguish Amgen
Inc. v. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd.,
580 F.3d 1340 (Fed. Cir.
2009), which analyzed anticipation of a claimed recombi-
nant erythropoietin (“EPO”) by prior art urinary (i.e. natu-
ral) EPO. Biogen
I, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 1367. The district
court declined to apply a product-by-process analysis to a
product-by-process limitation contained within a method of
treatment claim, concluding that no precedent required
such an analysis and that the policy informing product-by-
process claims—to enable an inventor to claim an
Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 8 Filed: 09/28/2020
8 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
otherwise difficult-to-define product—was inapplicable to
the instant method of treatment claims.
Id. at 712–13.
In the alternative, the district court held that no rea-
sonable jury could have found anticipation even applying a
product-by-process analysis.
Id. at 705–11. The district
court explained that because the claims required admin-
istration of a “therapeutically effective amount” of a recom-
binant polypeptide that “displays antiviral activity,” the
product resulting from the claimed recombinant process is
defined by the folded three-dimensional structure of the
protein.
Id. at 705 (discussing Summary Judgment Opin-
ion at 28, Jan. 9, 2018, ECF No. 892). The district court
held that the jury lacked substantial evidence that the na-
tive IFN-β protein as disclosed in Kingham and
Sundmacher was structurally or functionally identical to
the claimed three-dimensional recombinant IFN-β protein.
Id.
With respect to structural identity, the district court
emphasized that whereas the attached carbohydrate
groups in native IFN-β protein were glycosolated, the at-
tached carbohydrate groups in recombinant IFN-β were not
glycosolated, and that this change affected the three-di-
mensional structure of the protein.
Id. The district court—
relying on expert testimony by Serono’s expert, Dr. Lodish,
and statements found in a post-priority date reference cre-
ated by InterPharm Laboratories Ltd. entitled “Compara-
tive Biochemical Analysis of Native Human Fibroblast
lnterferon and Recombinant Beta Interferon Expressed by
Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells” (“InterPharm”)—concluded
that native and recombinant IFN-β were not identical but
merely very similar.
Id. at 706–07.
The district court
opined that the structural differences alone preclude antic-
ipation.
Id. at 710–11 (relying primarily on this court’s de-
cision in
Amgen, 580 F.3d at 1367–69, in which we affirmed
a holding of no anticipation based on structural differ-
ences). Finally, the district court discounted the conclusion
in the InterPharm study that recombinant IFN-β and
Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 9 Filed: 09/28/2020
BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC. 9
native IFN-β were identical. It held that there was no sub-
stantial evidence that the generic “native IFN-β” analyzed
in the InterPharm study and found to be identical to re-
combinant IFN-β was the same native IFN-β taught in the
prior art.
Id. at 708.
As for functional identity, the district court held that
the relative ease of manufacture of recombinant IFN-β in
large quantities functionally distinguished it from native
IFN-β.
Id. at 709–10.
For these reasons, the district court granted JMOL of
no anticipation.
Id. at 713. The district court also condi-
tionally granted Biogen’s motion for a new trial on antici-
pation “[f]or the same reasons the Court grants Biogen’s
JMOL motion.”
Id. The district court added that the trial
was complex and was “noticeably focused on issues other
than anticipation,” such that that the jury verdict deserved
close scrutiny.
Id.
Serono appeals. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1295.
II
We review the grant of JMOL and the grant of new trial
under the law of the regional circuit. Uniloc USA, Inc. v.
Microsoft Corp.,
632 F.3d 1292, 1301, 1309 (Fed. Cir. 2011).
The Third Circuit reviews the grant of JMOL for a fact
question de novo, affirming “only if, viewing the evidence
in the light most favorable to the nonmovant and giving it
the advantage of every fair and reasonable inference, there
is insufficient evidence from which a jury reasonably could
find liability.” Lightning Lube, Inc. v. Witco Corp.,
4 F.3d
1153, 1166–67 (3d Cir. 1993); Garzier ex rel. White v. City
of Phila.,
328 F.3d 120, 123 (3d Cir. 2003) (“A district court
should grant such a motion only if, viewing all the evidence
in favor of the nonmoving party, no reasonable jury could
find liability on a particular point.”). The Third Circuit re-
views the conditional grant of a new trial against the
Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 10 Filed: 09/28/2020
10 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
weight of the evidence for an abuse of discretion, “unless
the court’s denial is based on the application of a legal pre-
cept, in which case the standard of review is plenary.”
Lightning
Lube, 4 F.3d at 1167.
III
A claim is anticipated only if “each and every [limita-
tion] is found within a single prior art reference.” Summit
6, LLC v. Samsung Elecs. Co.,
802 F.3d 1283, 1294 (Fed.
Cir. 2015). Anticipation is a factual question and thus
within the ordinary provenance of the jury. Lighting Bal-
last Control LLC v. Phillips Elecs. N. Am. Corp.,
790 F.3d
1329, 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2015).
In evaluating the evidentiary record presented to the
jury on the question of anticipation, the district court:
(1) declined to apply a product-by-process analysis to the
claimed recombinant IFN-β source limitation; and (2) in its
alternative ground analysis, required identity of three-di-
mensional structures not specifically recited in the claims
rather than the claimed and lexicographically defined “pol-
ypeptide.” Both of these determinations led to an errone-
ous conclusion on anticipation.
A. The Recombinant Source of the Polypeptide
The district court, focusing on the process of making
recombinant IFN-β, concluded that it need not analyze
whether native IFN-β and recombinantly produced IFN-β
were identical because neither Kingham nor Sundmacher
prior art reference taught a method of treatment using re-
combinant IFN-β. Biogen
I, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 704. It cat-
egorized the “produced” and “transformed” limitations as
meaningful “source limitations.”
Id. at 711–12.
The dis-
trict court was convinced that because the recombinant
source limitations here overcame the shortcoming of the
prior art—namely, the unavailability of native IFN-β in
sufficient quantity to facilitate practical treatment—the
recombinant nature of the claimed IFN-β “lies at the heart
Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 11 Filed: 09/28/2020
BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC. 11
of the benefit of this invention” [and] should be given “force
and effect in the anticipation analysis.’”
Id. (quoting Bio-
gen’s statements at JMOL hearing, Trial Tr. 6/6/18 at 12:7–
10). The district court reasoned that no binding precedent
required it to apply a product-by-process analysis to a lim-
itation contained in a method of treatment claim, and held
that the rationale underlying the use of product-by-process
claims—to allow claiming of an otherwise difficult-to-de-
fine invention, see
SmithKline, 439 F.3d at 1315—did not
apply to the claims here because the “product” itself was
sufficiently described. Biogen I,
335 F. Supp. 3d. at 713.
The district court thus concluded there could be no antici-
pation, regardless of whether Serono had shown the iden-
tity of native IFN-β and recombinant INF-β.
Serono contends that Biogen has waived any argument
that the recombinant source of the IFN-β can alone confer
novelty because Biogen’s pre-verdict JMOL motion only ar-
gued that native IFN-β and recombinant IFN-β were not
identical. We find no waiver. The source limitation was
one of the bases for Biogen’s argument of non-identity and
was considered by the district court at Summary Judgment
and in its opinion on JMOL.
On the merits, Serono asserts that a source limitation
alone cannot confer novelty unless the product itself is
novel. Serono argues that the district court erred by hold-
ing that the lack of a recombinantly produced IFN-β prod-
uct in the prior art compelled a finding of no anticipation.
Biogen argues that the source of the IFN-β matters is an
independent limitation.
We agree with Serono. The district court’s refusal to
consider the identity of recombinant and native IFN-β runs
afoul of the longstanding rule that “an old product is not
patentable even if it is made by a new process.”
Amgen,
580 F.3d at 1366. See also Gen. Elec. Co. v. Wabash Appli-
ance Corp.,
304 U.S. 364, 373 (1938) (“[A] patentee who
does not distinguish his product from what is old except by
Case: 19-1133 Document: 90 Page: 12 Filed: 09/28/2020
12 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
reference, express or constructive, to the process by which
he produced it, cannot secure a monopoly on the product by
whatever means produced.”); Cochrane v. Badische Anilin
& Soda Fabrik,
111 U.S. 293, 311 (1884) (“While a new pro-
cess for producing [an old product] was patentable, the
product itself could not be patented, even though it was a
product made artificially for the first time.”); SmithKline
Beecham Corp. v. Apotex Corp.,
439 F.3d 1312, 1317 (Fed.
Cir. 2006) (“It has long been established that one cannot
avoid anticipation by an earlier product disclosure by
claiming the same product . . . as produced by a particular
process.”).
In Amgen, we explained that a claim to a recombinant
EPO composition must be analyzed for novelty by compar-
ing the recombinant EPO to the prior art urinary EPO. We
further explained that simply because prior art urinary
EPO was not made recombinantly was not enough to avoid
anticipation as a matter of law.
2 580 F.3d at 1370 (“To
prove invalidity, Roche had to show that recombinant EPO
was the same as urinary EPO, even though urinary EPO
was not made recombinantly.”) (emphasis added). The key
2 The key claim in Amgen read: “A pharmaceutical
composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount
of human erythropoietin and a pharmaceutically accepta-
ble diluent, adjuvant or carrier, wherein said erythropoi-
etin is purified from mammalian cells grown in
culture.”
580 F.3d at 1364. An additional independent claim in a
related patent read: “A non-naturally occurring glycopro-
tein product of the expression in a mammalian host cell of
an exogenous DNA sequence comprising a DNA sequence
encoding human erythropoietin said product possessing
the in vivo biological property of causing bone marrow cells
to increase production of reticulocytes and red blood cells.”
Id. In relevant part, we applied the same analysis to both
claims.
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BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC. 13
question was “whether the production of EPO by recombi-
nant technology resulted in a new product,”
id. at 1367, or,
“[i]n other words, does the source limitation ‘purified from
mammalian cells grown in culture’ distinguish recombi-
nant EPO from [prior art] urinary EPO?”
Id.
The nature of the origin or source of the composition
recited in the claims at issue in this case is, in all relevant
respects, identical to that considered in Amgen. As in
Amgen, the recombinant origin of the recited composition
cannot alone confer novelty on that composition if the prod-
uct itself is identical to the prior art non-recombinant prod-
uct. The requirements that the claimed polypeptide is
“recombinant” and “produced by a non-human host trans-
formed by a recombinant DNA molecule” (in the case of
Claim 1 of the ’755 patent) describe the process by which
the product, i.e. the “polypeptide,” is formed. These are not
additional structural limitations. See Purdue Pharma L.P.
v. Epic Pharma, LLC,
811 F.3d 1345, 1353 (Fed. Cir. 2016)
(holding that because a source limitation of a composition
“has no effect on its structure . . . [that] limitation . . . can-
not be a structural limitation”). The key question for an-
ticipation here, as in Amgen, is thus whether the
recombinant product is identical to the prior art product—
not whether the prior art product was made recombinantly.
Biogen argues that Amgen is limited to composition
claims and is not applicable to the method of treatment
claims at issue here. To support this proposition, Biogen
relies on general statements in product-by-process cases
such as In re Thorpe,
777 F.2d 695, 697 (Fed. Cir. 1985)
(applying product-by-process analysis for “an otherwise pa-
tentable product”) (emphasis added), and the well-recog-
nized distinction patent law draws between the scope of
composition and method of treatment claims. See, e.g.,
Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.,
569
U.S. 576, 595 (2013) (recognizing the distinct scope for com-
position and method of treatment claims in the context of
35 U.S.C. § 101).
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14 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
Biogen’s only basis for novelty of the method of treat-
ment claims at issue here is the novelty of the recombinant
IFN-β composition that is administered. That composition
is claimed in terms of the process by which it is manufac-
tured. If the novelty of the recombinant IFN-β composition
requires comparing its structure to the structure of native
IFN-β, as Amgen requires, it would defy all reason to ex-
cuse that analysis for a method of administration claim us-
ing that composition. Such a rule could have the absurd
result that a recombinant composition could be non-novel,
the method of administration could be non-novel, but the
method of administration of the composition defined by the
process of its manufacture would be novel as a matter of
law.
There is no logical reason why the nesting of a product-
by-process limitation within a method of treatment claim
should change how novelty of that limitation is evaluated.
Indeed, we have previously applied product-by-process
analysis to a nested limitation. In Purdue Pharma, we in-
terpreted a claim to “an oral dosage form compris-
ing . . . oxycodone hydrochloride active pharmaceutical
ingredient having less than 25 ppm 14-hydroxy[ ], wherein
at least a portion of the 14-hydroxy [ ] is derived from 8α[ ]
during conversion of oxycodone free base to oxycodone hy-
drochloride” as including a product-by-process limitation;
namely, the 14-hydroxy as derived. Purdue
Pharma, 811
F.3d at 1353 (emphasis omitted). Similar to our analysis
here, the court in Purdue Pharma held that it was appro-
priate to focus on the identity of the products of the claimed
and prior art processes, and not on the source limitation, in
analyzing obviousness. See
id. at 1353–54. The nesting of
the product-by-process limitation within a method of treat-
ment claim does not change the proper construction of the
product-by-process limitation itself.
We are also unpersuaded by the district court’s and Bi-
ogen’s reasoning that a product-by-process-type analysis is
inappropriate here because the composition was otherwise
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BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC. 15
capable of definition other than by the process. That argu-
ment is precluded by Amgen, where the product was also
well-defined in the claims: “human erythropoi-
etin . . . wherein said erythropoietin is purified from mam-
malian cells grown in
culture.” 580 F.3d at 1364.
Furthermore, as
noted supra, the rule in Amgen is a neces-
sary outgrowth of the black-letter legal principle that an
old product made by a new process is not novel and cannot
be patented. Logic compels extending that rule to the pre-
sent case; an old method of administration of an old prod-
uct made by a new process is not novel and cannot be
patented.
Biogen is certainly correct that the scope of composition
and method of treatment claims is generally subject to dis-
tinctly different analyses. But where, as here, the novelty
of the method of administration rests wholly on the novelty
of the composition administered, which in turn rests on the
novelty of the source limitation, the Amgen analysis will
necessarily result in the same conclusion on anticipation
for both forms of claims.
Finally, the district court erred in considering the ad-
vantages of the recombinant process—the new capability of
manufacturing sufficient quantities of IFN-β through re-
combinant technology—as a reason not to apply a product-
by-process analysis. See Biogen
I, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 713.
That consideration may well be relevant in considering the
novelty of the recombinant process, but, a new process, re-
gardless of its novelty, does not make an old product cre-
ated by that process novel. This does not fail to give “force
and effect” to the heart of the claimed invention; it protects
the public from attempts to excise old products from the
public domain.
Because a proper anticipation analysis of the claims in
the ’755 patent turns not on the source of the claimed pol-
ypeptide but on a comparison of the claimed recombinant
polypeptide and the prior art native polypeptide, the
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16 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
district court erred in concluding that the mere absence of
recombinantly produced IFN-β in the prior art was suffi-
cient to grant JMOL of no anticipation.
B. The Three-Dimensional Structure of the Polypeptide
The district court also held that even applying a prod-
uct-by-process type analysis, no reasonable jury could have
found anticipation because the jury lacked sufficient evi-
dence of identity between the claimed recombinant “poly-
peptide” and the native IFN-β. In particular, the district
court concluded that just because recombinant and native
IFN-β “share the same linear amino acid sequence is not
enough for purposes of anticipation.”
Id. at 705. The dis-
trict court took the position that native polypeptide antici-
pates the “recombinant polypeptide” only if their respective
folded three-dimensional proteins share identical structure
and function.
Id. The district court reasoned that without
a disclosure in the prior art of such three-dimensional pro-
tein, a showing of the native polypeptide alone would not
necessarily produce “antiviral activity” when administered
in a “therapeutically effective amount” as recited in the
claims.
Id. (citing Summary Judgment Opinion at 28, ECF
No. 892). This was error.
The “product” administered in the claimed method is
the “polypeptide.” See ’755 patent, col. 49, ll. 59–64 (“A
method . . . comprising the step of administering . . . a
therapeutically effective amount of a composition compris-
ing: a recombinant polypeptide produced by a non-human
host . . . .”). As
noted supra, the key question for anticipa-
tion is whether the native “polypeptide” is identical to the
“polypeptide” “produced by” the recited recombinant pro-
cess.
Biogen explicitly defined “polypeptide” in the ’755 pa-
tent:
Polypeptide—A linear array of amino acids con-
nected one to the other by peptide bonds between
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BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC. 17
the α-amino and carboxy groups of adjacent amino
acids.
’755 patent, col. 8, ll. 62–64. The “polypeptide” structure is
thus defined by reference to its “linear” array, without re-
gard to its folded protein structure. The district court
charged the jury with this definition, adding that the jury
“must accept my definition of these words in the claims as
correct.” Final Jury Instructions at 17, ECF No. 968. Bio-
gen did not object to this charge and did not ask the court
for a jury instruction requiring identity of the folded pro-
tein structures.
As the district court recognized on summary judgment,
“Biogen does not dispute that ‘[t]he sequential order of the
amino acid residues for native IFN-β is the same as the se-
quential order of the amino acid residues for recombinant
IFN-β.’” Summary Judgment Opinion at 27, ECF No. 892.
See also Biogen Brief at 19. Thus, the native IFN-β poly-
peptide and the claimed recombinant IFN-β polypeptide
are identical for purposes of the instant claim.
Biogen argues that the district court was correct in re-
quiring identity not just of the polypeptide, but also of the
folded proteins, because the claims require the administra-
tion of “a therapeutically effective amount of a composition”
and that the DNA sequences in the claims must “code for a
polypeptide displaying antiviral activity.” Biogen asserts
that only three-dimensional proteins can be therapeuti-
cally effective and have antiviral activity, and therefore
that the “product” to be analyzed for novelty is the folded
three-dimensional protein, not just the amino acid se-
quence.
Biogen is incorrect. First, Biogen’s argument fails to
give effect to Biogen’s explicit definition of “polypeptide” in
the specification. We must respect this lexicographic
choice. See Edward Lifesciences LLC v. Cook Inc.,
582 F.3d
1322, 1329 (Fed. Cir. 2009) (“[W]e will adopt a definition
that is different from the ordinary meaning when ‘the
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18 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
patentee acted as his own lexicographer and clearly set
forth a definition of the disputed claim term in . . . the spec-
ification’” (quoting CCS Fitness, Inc. v. Brunswick Corp.,
288 F.3d 1359, 1366–67 (Fed. Cir. 2002))). Biogen does not
attempt to square its theory with the definition in the spec-
ification.
Second, Biogen draws the wrong conclusion from the
claimed antiviral activity limitation. The claims, in calling
for antiviral activity, do not recite any specific folded three-
dimensional structure that gives rise to that activity.
While it is indisputable that an amino acid sequence alone
cannot give rise to antiviral activity, it is also indisputable
that every linear sequence of proteins will fold into some
three-dimensional configuration. The claimed antiviral ac-
tivity can arise from the administration of any three-di-
mensional protein with a linear amino acid sequence
identical to the claimed recombinant “polypeptide.”
Finally, and importantly, Biogen did not ask for a jury
instruction on anticipation that required comparing the
three-dimensional protein structures of prior art IFN-β and
the claimed recombinant IFN-β. Neither Biogen nor the
district court can reframe the anticipation inquiry on
JMOL to focus on the unclaimed three-dimensional protein
structure, where the jury was instructed, without objec-
tion, to decide anticipation based on the linear amino acid
sequence. See Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat Sys., Inc.,
879 F.3d
1299, 1306 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (“[I]t is too late at the JMOL
stage to . . . adopt a new and more detailed interpretation
of the claim language and test the jury verdict by that new
and more detailed interpretation.” (quoting Hewlett-Pack-
ard Co. v. Mustek Sys., Inc.,
340 F.3d 1314, 1321 (Fed. Cir.
2003))).
The jury was correctly instructed that “to be entitled to
a patent, the invention must actually be ‘new.’” J.A. 81262.
It is undisputed that the prior art here teaches the admin-
istration of native IFN-β that has a linear amino acid
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BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC. 19
sequence identical to the linear amino acid sequence of the
recited recombinant IFN-β and that shows antiviral activ-
ity. See ’755 patent, col. 3, ll. 4–14. The jury thus had suf-
ficient evidence to find that native IFN-β polypeptide is
identical to recombinant IFN-β polypeptide, was adminis-
tered in therapeutically effective amounts, and showed an-
tiviral activity in the prior art. The district court thus
erred in granting JMOL of no anticipation. 3
IV. Conditional Grant of New Trial
The district court also conditionally granted a new trial
on anticipation. The district court’s grant of a new trial
was based on the same legal errors supporting its grant of
JMOL. Biogen
I, 335 F. Supp. 3d at 713 (“For the same
reasons the Court grants Biogen’s JMOL motion, the Court
conditionally orders a new trial on anticipation.”). None of
the additional considerations noted by the district court in
support of its conditional grant of a new trial are inde-
pendently sufficient to support its decision. We therefore
reverse the district court’s grant of a conditional new trial
on anticipation.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons discussed above, we reverse the district
court’s grant of judgment as a matter of law of no anticipa-
tion and the conditional grant of a new trial on anticipa-
tion. We remand with instructions to reinstate the jury
verdict on anticipation. We need not and do not address
the several other issues raised by the parties on appeal.
3 Because the proper construction of the claims does
not require comparison of the three-dimensional structure
of prior art native IFN-β and recombinant IFN-β, we need
not consider the parties’ contested readings of the Inter-
Pharm study or the evidence or lack thereof of structural
identity.
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20 BIOGEN MA INC. v. EMD SERONO, INC.
REVERSED AND REMANDED