Important implications of Abbott win in US patent ruling

US health care major Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) last week won a US appeals court ruling that will make it harder for patents to be declared invalid because of gaps or errors in patent applications.

The case was an appeal involving an Abbott dispute with Becton, Dickinson and German drug major Bayer’s health care unit over a glucose-monitor design. An Abbott patent was deemed unenforceable because of the company giving contradictory information to the US and European patent offices on the same invention. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of Abbott Laboratories, saying it could sue for infringement to enforce its patent for disposable blood glucose test strips.

The appeals court reversed a lower court ruling saying that "inequitable conduct" could only be used to invalidate a patent if the withheld material was critical to whether a patent should have been granted.