Separate panels had held there was no legal theory to support findings that defendants engaged in joint infringement.
Voters are evenly divided, at 42.9%, on whether they think the Federal Circuit will change the standing infringement decisions for the Akamai and McKesson cases as a result of en banc arguments that occurred last month. The remaining 14.3% of respondents were undecided.
Biopharma industry stakeholders are seeking clearer direction on when patents can be considered jointly infringed. Earlier this year, separate Federal Circuit panels held there was no viable legal theory to support findings that defendants in the two cases engaged in joint infringement, despite a contractual relationship in Akamai Technologies, Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc. and a doctor/patient relationship in McKesson Technologies Inc. v. Epic System Corp. Akamai and McKesson have won support from BIO, PhRMA, and Myriad Genetics, which all assert that current stipulations of joint infringement could be detrimental to personalized medicine.
