Federal Circuit Review:
Duke University v. Sandoz Inc.
In this case summary of Duke University v. Sandoz Inc. at the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals (11/18/2025), attorneys
Nick Clawson, Colleen Hui, and John Whitaker review the Court’s reversal of a 2023 ruling in the District Court for the District of Colorado, which held that Sandoz Inc. infringed a Duke University patent for a hair loss drug. The Court held that the patent claim at issue was invalid for lack of adequate written description under 35 U.S.C. § 112. In making its decision, the court referenced the decisions in two earlier cases, reaffirming that “one cannot disclose a forest in the original application, and then later pick a tree out of the forest and say, ‘here is my in invention’.”
The Court’s reversal of the decision reminds patent practitioners and inventors to ensure that the patent application is sufficiently detailed and descriptive to lead a person of ordinary skill in the art through the proverbial woods to the claimed invention. To read the case summary, please visit here.
