Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation v. HEC Pharm Co., Ltd., et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2021-1070 · judgment June 21, 2022


Certiorari denied · April 17, 2023
Pre-decision estimate: 8% cert probability (95% interval 5%–12%)

Before the decision, about 1.9× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and a Federal Circuit decision below, and down for a business respondent.

Questions presented

  1. Whether 28 U.S.C. § 46 and principles of sound judicial administration preclude a court of appeals from adding a new judge to form a new panel and redecide a case after an original three-judge panel has already decided the case and entered its judgment.

  2. Whether 35 U.S.C. § 112 should be interpreted consistent with its plain text as requiring that a patent specification contain a “written description of the invention” in a form that need only be understandable to “any person skilled in the art,” or whether the court of appeals properly read in a heightened requirement that allows it to deem the specification inadequate on de novo review and displaces the perspective of a person skilled in the art.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Deanne Elizabeth Maynard
Morrison & Foerster LLP

For respondent
Peter K. Stris
Stris and Maher LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
3 cert-stage

Linked docket
22A507

Proceedings

  1. Apr 17 2023
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Mar 22 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/14/2023.
  3. Mar 21 2023
    Reply of petitioner Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation filed. (Distributed)
  4. Mar 03 2023
    Brief of respondent HEC Pharm Co., Ltd., HEC Pharm USA Inc. in opposition filed.
  5. Feb 21 2023
    Brief amici curiae of Intellectual Property Professors filed.
  6. Feb 21 2023
    Brief amici curiae of Retired United States Circuit Judges filed.
  7. Feb 21 2023
    Brief amici curiae of Law Professors and Civil Procedure Scholars filed.
  8. Feb 01 2023
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 3, 2023.
  9. Jan 30 2023
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 21, 2023 to March 3, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
  10. Jan 18 2023
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 21, 2023)
  11. Dec 08 2022
    Application (22A507) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until January 18, 2023.
  12. Dec 06 2022
    Application (22A507) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 19, 2022 to January 18, 2023, submitted to The Chief Justice.