`Tel: 571-272-7822
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`Entered: December 22, 2016
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`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`_______________
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`_______________
`
`PAR PHARMACEUTICAL, INC. and AMNEAL PHARMACEUTICALS
`LLC,
`Petitioners,
`
`v.
`
`JAZZ PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.,
`Patent Owner.
`_____________
`
`
`
`Case IPR2015-00554
`Patent 7,668,730 B2
`______________
`
`
`Before JACQUELINE WRIGHT BONILLA, BRIAN P. MURPHY, and
`JON B. TORNQUIST, Administrative Patent Judges.
`
`MURPHY, Administrative Patent Judge.
`
`DECISION
`Denying Patent Owner’s Request for Rehearing
`37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d)
`
`
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`
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`IPR2015-00554
`Patent 7,668,730 B2
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`INTRODUCTION
`I.
`Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Patent Owner”) filed a Request for
`Rehearing following our Final Written Decision determining all challenged
`claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,668,730 B2 (Ex. 1001, “the ’730 patent”) to be
`unpatentable. Paper 68 (“Decision” or “Dec.”); Paper 69 (“Rehearing
`Request” or “Req. Reh’g”). Par Pharmaceutical, Inc. and Amneal
`Pharmaceuticals LLC (together “Petitioner”) filed a Response to Patent
`Owner’s Rehearing Request. Paper 71 (“Opp.”). Patent Owner seeks
`reconsideration of the Board’s determination that claims 1–11 of the ’730
`patent are unpatentable for obviousness over the Advisory Committee Art
`(Exs. 1003–1006, collectively “the ACA”). Req. Reh’g 1–2. Patent Owner
`argues that the Board misapprehended or overlooked certain evidence when
`construing the following claim limitation: “the prescription requests
`containing information identifying patients, the prescription drug, and
`various credentials of the any and all medical doctors.” Id. at 2–8.
`Petitioner opposes the Rehearing Request. Opp. 2–6.
`Having considered the parties’ submissions concerning Patent
`Owner’s Rehearing Request, Patent Owner’s request is denied.
`
`
`STANDARD OF REVIEW
`II.
`A party who requests rehearing bears the burden of showing that a
`decision should be modified. 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d). The party must identify
`all matters the party believes we misapprehended or overlooked, and the
`place where each matter was addressed previously in a motion, an
`opposition, or a reply. Id. “A Request for Rehearing is not an opportunity
`to re-argue old arguments.” Histologics, LLC v. CDX Diagnostics, Inc.,
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`IPR2015-00554
`Patent 7,668,730 B2
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`Case IPR2014-00779, slip op. at 4 (PTAB Oct. 16, 2014) (Paper 9). With
`the aforementioned principles in mind, we address the rehearing arguments
`presented by Patent Owner.
`
`III. ANALYSIS
`Independent claims 1 and 2 of the ’730 patent recite a method step for
`receiving prescription requests “containing information identifying patients,
`the prescription drug, and various credentials of the any and all medical
`doctors.” Ex. 1001 8:45–48, 9:11–14 (the “identifying” element).1 In its
`Response, Patent Owner argued that exemplary embodiments described in
`the ’730 patent limited the “identifying” element by requiring specific types
`of information to be read into the “identifying” element. PO Resp. 30–36.
`We considered Patent Owner’s arguments, construed the “identifying”
`element with particular reference to the ’730 patent specification, explained
`our reasoning, and stated that the “identifying” element is not limited to the
`types of information proposed by Patent Owner “nor requires all of that
`information.” Dec. 18–21.
`Patent Owner’s Rehearing Request argues that the Board overlooked
`portions of the ’730 patent specification and certain extrinsic evidence, in
`the form of expert testimony, that was cited by Patent Owner in its Response
`to the Petition. Req. Reh’g 3–8. Patent Owner then repeats its argument
`that the “identifying” element requires specific types of information to be
`read into the claim element. Id. We do not agree that we misapprehended or
`overlooked the evidence identified by Patent Owner in its Response and
`
`
`1 Independent claims 7–11 contain similar elements. Ex. 1001, 9:52–55,
`10:23–26, 10:57–60, 11:28–30, 12:16–19.
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`IPR2015-00554
`Patent 7,668,730 B2
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`Rehearing Request. Rather, Patent Owner’s Rehearing Request is an
`attempt to reargue the position rejected in our Decision.
`Our Decision construing the “identifying” element includes extensive
`citation to, and discussion of, Patent Owner’s arguments and evidence. Dec.
`18–21. Our claim construction analysis begins by explicitly and repeatedly
`acknowledging Patent Owner’s arguments and evidence, including the exact
`specification excerpt and expert testimony of Dr. DiPiro and Dr. Valuck on
`which Patent Owner’s Rehearing Request relies regarding the “information
`identifying patients” language. Id. at 18 (citing PO Resp. 30–33; Ex. 2046
`¶¶ 39–44; Ex. 1001 at 4:8–22; 8:4–5, 8:40–44, 10:20–23; Ex. 2044 at 97:11–
`98:5, 99:18–100:10); id. at 18–19 (citing PO Resp. 31; Ex. 1001 at 4:20–22,
`8:4–5, Fig. 9; Ex. 2044 at 97:11–23, 99:18–100:10). 2 We did not
`“overlook” this evidence or consider only Figure 9 of the ’730 patent
`specification regarding the identification of patients. See Req. Reh’g 3. We
`further stated that, rather than limiting our analysis to Figure 9,
`
`nothing in the specification suggests that excluding one or
`more pieces of information in the list of a ‘patient’s name,
`social security number, date of birth, sex, and complete
`address information, including city, state, and zip code,’
`as proposed by Patent Owner, means that a prescription
`
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`2 Patent Owner cited to the Abstract of the ’730 patent in support of its
`proposed claim construction. PO Resp. 33, 36; Req. Reh’g 5, 8. With
`regard to the “identifying” element, the Abstract merely states that
`“[i]nformation is kept in the database regarding all physicians allowed to
`prescribe the sensitive drug, and all patients receiving the drug.” Ex. 1001,
`Abstract. The Abstract, therefore, provides only general guidance for
`construing the “identifying” element.
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`IPR2015-00554
`Patent 7,668,730 B2
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`fails to contain ‘information identifying the patient,’ as
`recited in the claims.
`Dec. 19 (emphasis added).
`We made clear that the controlling description of the specification
`outweighed Patent Owner’s argument and supporting evidence that specific
`types of information are required to be read into the “identifying” element of
`the claims. Id. (“Thus, we construe ‘prescription requests [for GHB]
`containing information identifying patients’ to refer to information
`identifying a patient, which may include [Patent Owner’s specifically listed
`information], but is not limited to that information nor requires all of that
`information.”) (emphasis added). We also cited to all of the expert
`testimony on which Patent Owner relied for its claim construction, as an
`indication that we considered the testimony. Id. at 18 (citing Ex. 2044,
`97:11–98:5, 99:18–100:10; Ex. 2046 ¶¶ 39–44). We did the same for the
`“information identifying . . . any and all medical doctors” language,
`concluding that:
`
`The specification does not suggest that failing to include
`on the prescription one or more pieces of information from
`the list of a “medical doctor’s name, license number, DEA
`number, and physician specialty,” as proposed by Patent
`Owner, means that a prescription fails to contain
`information regarding “various credentials,” as recited in
`the claims.
`Id. at 20–21 (citing PO Resp. 33–36; Ex. 1001, 2:22–24, 2:41–42, 4:7–8,
`4:8–14, 4:18–20, 4:20–22, 4:7–5:67, 8:4–7, 8:40–44, 10:20–23, Figs. 2A–C
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`IPR2015-00554
`Patent 7,668,730 B2
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`and 9; Ex. 2044, 181:1–23; Ex. 2046 ¶¶ 45–49). Though we did not discuss
`the expert testimony, we considered it.
`For example, on the same page of testimony cited by Patent Owner,
`Dr. Valuck testified that the information sufficient to identify a patient is
`“whatever the pharmacist believes is required to sufficiently identify the
`patient in their professional judgment.” Ex. 2044, 98:2–16. Even so, our
`Decision puts primary emphasis on the claim language and relevant
`description of the “identifying” element in the specification, not the extrinsic
`expert testimony relied upon by Patent Owner. See Perfect Surgical
`Techniques, Inc. v. Olympus Am., Inc., 841 F.3d 1004, 1012–13 (Fed. Cir.
`2016) (“The legal part of claim construction is the determination of the
`meaning of the term in the claim in light of the patent’s intrinsic record.”);
`see also Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1324 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en
`banc) (stating that sources outside the specification should not be “used to
`contradict claim meaning that is unambiguous in light of the intrinsic
`evidence.”).
`In sum, Patent Owner’s Rehearing Request is an attempt to reargue its
`claim construction positions, not an identification of claim language or
`evidence we misapprehended overlooked. Therefore, Patent Owner’s
`Rehearing Request is denied.
`
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`IV. ORDER
`
`Accordingly, it is
`ORDERED that Patent Owner’s Rehearing Request is denied.
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`IPR2015-00554
`Patent 7,668,730 B2
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`FOR PETITIONER:
`Matthew C. Ruedy
`Steven A. Maddox
`MADDOX EDWARDS PLLC
`mruedy@meiplaw.com
`smaddox@meiplaw.com
`
`Janine A. Carlan
`Richard J. Berman
`Bradford C. Frese
`ARENT FOX LLP
`janine.carlan@arentfox.com
`richard.berman@arentfox.com
`bradford.frese@arentfox.com
`
`
`
`FOR PATENT OWNER:
`F. Dominic Cerrito
`Evangeline Shih
`Frank C. Calvosa
`Eric C. Stops
`QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART & SULLIVAN, LLP
`nickcerrito@quinnemanuel.com
`evangelineshih@quinnemanuel.com
`frankcalvosa@quinnemanuel.com
`ericstops@quinnemanuel.com
`
`John V. Biernacki
`JONES DAY
`jvbiernacki@jonesday.com
`
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