BioWorld MedTech: Federal Circuit Overturns Jury Win for Labcorp in Dispute With Qiagen

Stan Gibson, Chairman of the Patent Litigation Group with JMBM, was quoted in the BioWorld MedTech article, “Federal Circuit overturns jury win for Labcorp in dispute with Qiagen.” The article discusses the Federal Circuit overturning a jury’s $4.7 million damages award to Labcorp Inc. in its patent dispute with Qiagen Inc., reaffirming limits on the doctrine of equivalents in infringement cases.

Gibson told BioWorld MedTech that the doctrine of equivalents allows an imputation of infringement without having to demonstrate a point-by-point match. As an alternative to literal infringement, the doctrine of equivalents allows courts to determine infringement in a manner that is not directly supported by the patent.

Consequently, the doctrine of equivalents is typically narrowly construed, Gibson said, adding that this doctrine presents another hazard. Gibson said that by allowing an argument regarding the doctrine “to be expanded too far, you allow someone to have a monopoly on something that they didn’t invent.” An associated risk is that an entity might obtain something as effective as an explicit patent for an article for which the entity in question could not obtain a patent.

Gibson noted that courts typically employ the function-way-result test to determine whether an argument for the doctrine of equivalents has merit, which he noted was cited by the Federal Circuit. “You really need to have very specific testimony to support” a recitation of the doctrine, he added, noting that the district court and the Federal Circuit came to very different conclusions regarding the validity of that expert testimony.

Read the full article: Federal Circuit overturns jury win for Labcorp in dispute with Qiagen