Bristol-Myers, Akamai, P&G: Intellectual Property
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. sued Apotex Inc. to prevent sales of a generic version of the blood-cancer drug Sprycel in the U.S.
Apotex, based in Toronto, is seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to sell a copy of the drug, according to a lawsuit filed Nov. 8 in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey. Bristol-Myers said a generic version would infringe four patents and is asking for a ruling that would block approval until the patents expire. Three end in 2020 and the fourth expires in 2025, according to the FDA’s website.
Sprycel, first approved by regulators in 2006, generated $407 million in sales for the first nine months of this year, New York-based Bristol-Myers said Oct. 26. That includes $127 million in U.S. sales, up 40 percent from a year earlier, the company said. The drug is marketed with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. of Tokyo and competes with Novartis AG’s Gleevec.
Bristol-Myers won U.S. approval last month to expand use of the product for patients newly diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myeloid leukemia, a rare form of blood cancer tied to a genetic abnormality.
Officials with closely held Apotex didn’t immediately return e-mails seeking comment. The lawsuit is standard under federal drug law to clarify patent rights while the FDA is considering the application.
The case is Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Apotex Inc., 10cv5810, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Trenton).
Akamai, MIT Accuse Startup Cotendo of Infringing Web Patents
Akamai Technologies Inc., the provider of computing services that speed delivery of online content, accused startup competitor Cotendo Inc. of using the company’s patented technology without permission.
“Cotendo is a relative late-comer to the content-delivery services market,” Akamai said in a patent-infringement complaint filed in federal court in Boston Nov. 9. “In an effort to compete against Akamai as a low-cost provider, defendant Cotendo has implemented Akamai’s inventive systems and methods for content delivery,” the company said in its pleadings.
AT&T Inc., the largest U.S. phone company, is integrating Cotendo technology into its network, according to an Oct. 12 note to clients from Richard Fetyko, an analyst at Merriman Capital in New York. That may challenge Akamai’s business and increase the competitive market in 2011, he said.
Closely held Cotendo, founded in 2008, is funded by Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital and Tenaya Capital. The company’s dynamic site-acceleration product, designed to make websites work faster, is “an attempt to sell services that embody Akamai’s inventions,” Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Akamai said in the complaint.
Officials with Sunnyvale, California-based Cotendo had no immediate comment on the complaint.
Akamai filed the lawsuit together with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One patent, for a way to host and distribute content over the Internet, was issued in April to MIT, and Akamai is the exclusive licensee. The other patent, related to communications between Web clients, was issued in 2004 to Netli Inc., which Akamai bought in 2007.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified cash compensation and an order that Cotendo be barred from using the inventions.
The case is Akamai Technologies Inc. v. Cotendo Inc., 10cv11921, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).
USPTO Extends Expedited Processing for ‘Green’ Tech Applications
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has extended its Green Technology Pilot Program that was originally set to expire Dec. 8, according to a patent office statement.
Under this program, applications related to so-called “green” technology are eligible for expedited processing. Already 790 applicants are being given this special handling and, from that group, 94 patents have already been issued.
Under the expanded pilot program, the first 3,000 applications filed on or before Dec. 31 that qualify for special status will be given expedited examinations. All who apply for this program must state how the application is related to either the development of a renewable energy source or energy conservation, or to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Copyright
BT, TalkTalk Win Permission for Court Review of Piracy Law
BT Group Plc and TalkTalk Telecom Group Plc won permission to have the U.K.’s digital-piracy legislation reviewed by a court in an effort to avoid investing in complying with a law that may be unenforceable.
The companies received consent for a hearing on the issue from the High Court in London yesterday. They sought a review in July, arguing that provisions in the Digital Economy Act received “insufficient scrutiny” before the previous government dissolved parliament.
“We are pleased that the court has recognized that our concerns about the copyright infringement provisions in the Digital Economy Act should be considered in a full hearing,” BT spokesman Jon Carter said yesterday in an e-mail.
The law, passed this year under the former Labor government, is designed to prevent illegal file sharing of television programs, films and music by forcing Internet service providers to block some users. BT and TalkTalk may invest “tens of millions of pounds in new systems and processes” to monitor Internet users and block connections, only to find the law is unenforceable, the companies said in July.
ImagesBazaar Accuses Business School of Infringing Copyrights
ImagesBazaar, an archive of Indian stock photography, filed a copyright infringement suit against an Indian school that offers programs in financial management.
The suit, filed in district court in Delhi, is against the BLB Institute of Financial Marketing, which is accused of using Images Bazaar photos without permission, according to an Images Bazaar statement.
BLB allegedly used the photos on its website and in newspaper advertising, according to the statement.
Under Indian law, copyright infringement can be both a civil and criminal matter, and a defendant convicted of infringement faces a potential jail term.
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Trademark
Procter & Gamble Sued for Infringement Over ‘Web Celeb’
Procter & Gamble Co., the world’s largest consumer-products company, was sued for trademark infringement by a California company that operates an online social marketplace for independent music and its fans.
Webceleb Inc. of San Diego has used the domain name webceleb.com since March 2007, according to the complaint filed Nov. 9 in federal court in San Diego. The company said it experienced “an unexpected spike” in the number of visitors to its site in October 2010.
The increase in visitors wasn’t associated with any of its own promotions and “did not result in typical site exploration or any significant increase in revenues,” according to court papers.
Webceleb said it discovered that Procter & Gamble was promoting a category for the People’s Choice award show known as “Web Celeb.” The San Diego company said there is now “widespread consumer confusion” about its trademark “Webceleb,” and, as a result, it’s losing profit, market share and sales.
The company asked the court to bar Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble’s use of the term “web celeb,” and for awards of money damages -- including profits the consumer-products company derived from its alleged infringement -- attorney fees and litigation costs. Webceleb alleged that the infringement is deliberate and asked that the damages be tripled as a result.
The company is represented by Jonathan Hangartner of X- Patns APC of La Jolla, California.
The case is Webceleb Inc. v. Procter & Gamble Co., 3:10- cv-02318-DMS-NLS, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California (San Diego).
Infosys Gets Affirmative Trademark Ruling From High Court
Infosys Technologies Ltd., India’s Bangalore-based software exporter, will be permitted to bring its claim of exclusive ownership of the “Infosys” trademark’ to that country’s IP tribunal, India’s Economic Times reported.
India’s Supreme Court set aside an earlier decision from the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, which had rejected the Infosys claim to exclusivity, the newspaper reported.
According to the Economic Times, the case stems from a dispute between Infosys and Calcutta-based Jupiter Infosys, which had used the word “Infosys” in a trademark since 1955.
Jupiter had claimed Infosys was using the term only in a narrow range of services and had sought the right to use it for other categories, according to the newspaper.
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Trade Secrets/Industrial Espionage
U.S. Says Ex-Goldman Programmer’s Trial Needs to Be Closed
The government has asked that the trial of former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. computer programmer Sergey Aleynikov be held partly behind closed doors, saying he may disclose the firm’s trade secrets “in great detail.”
Aleynikov was arrested in July 2009 and indicted Feb. 11 in what a federal prosecutor said was the “most substantial” theft that New York-based Goldman Sachs could recall. The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 29 before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in New York.
In court papers, Aleynikov said he will argue that the material he is accused of stealing isn’t a trade secret. He also said he will discuss “either in cross-examination or in a defense case, the way in which the allegedly stolen components interacted with the rest of Goldman Sach’s high-frequency trading system.”
Prosecutors said in court papers filed yesterday that they may also seek to show the trial jury how those components work together, which would require a sealed courtroom to protect trade secrets.
A closed courtroom is warranted under the Economic Espionage Act, which insures victims of such crimes aren’t “re- victimized” at a trial by public disclosure of their trade secrets, prosecutors said.
The case is U.S. v. Aleynikov, 10-00096, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan.)
IP Moves
DLA Piper Scores Two International IP Lawyers from Quinn Firm
DLA Piper LLP hired two patent specialists from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP of Los Angeles, the Chicago- based firm said in a statement.
The new hires are Henry Koda and William L. Androlia.
Koda, who now heads the Tokyo IP group for the Piper firm does both patent acquisition work and litigation. He has also done trademark and copyright litigation, infringement analysis and licensing work.
He previously practiced at his own firm of Koda & Androlia; Los Angeles-based Loeb & Loeb LLP; and the Kyowa Patent & Law Office in Tokyo.
Koda has an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Gakshuin University and a law degree from Meiji University.
Androlia’s practice focuses on international trade and high technology issues, including U.S. and Japanese patent, trademark and copyright applications, infringement analysis, licensing and litigation.
He previously practiced with Koda at Koda & Androlia and Loeb & Loeb. Before he was a lawyer, he worked as an electronic engineer for Philco/Ford Space and Reentry Systems, and services as an officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
He has an undergraduate degree in electronic engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree in electronic engineering from California State University, San Jose, and a law degree from Loyola University.
To contact the reporter on this story: Victoria Slind-Flor in Oakland, California, at vslindflor@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net.
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