Amarin Corp Plc (AMRN)

[circuitcity]

Interesting read, esp the follow, quote:

Question: The USPTO granted some of these patents before REDUCE-IT, and despite Mori 2000, because of the unexpected reduction in Apo-B. How was this specific Apo-B factor considered by the Court while making its judgments on obviousness?

Answer: During prosecution of the patents before the Patent Office, the Examiner allowed the patents in part because it found an unexpected benefit of the claimed inventions was a reduction of Apo-B. The district court, however, found that Kurabayashi (one of the prior art references) taught or suggested that pure EPA would reduce Apo-B. The court then found that, during prosecution, the Examiner did not consider Kurabayashi. Accordingly, the court rejected a factual finding that a reduction of Apo-B was “unexpected” given that the Examiner did not consider Kurabayashi.