Case Filed: Jun 05, 2013
Case Closed: Apr 02, 2014
Court: New Jersey District Court
Judge: Joseph E. Irenas
Case Summary:
New Jersey-based pharmaceutical
company, Everett Laboratories filed a patent infringement suit against Acella
Pharmaceuticals claiming that their patent US8197855 was infringed. The cause
of the suit was Acella’s manufacturing of prescription-only, prenatal
nutritional supplement "Choice-OB+DHA," which Everett claimed to be a
willful exact copy of their "Select-OB®+DHA", prenatal nutritional
supplement.
Everett further claimed that, according
to its package insert, Choice-OB+DHA contains the same vitamins and minerals,
in the same amounts, as Everett's Select-OB®+DHA and hence directly infringed
claims 1, 4-13 and 15-18 of the '855 patent. The ‘855 patent entitled ‘Compositions and
methods for nutrition supplementation’ was issued on Jun 12, 2012 and expires[1]
by Aug 12, 2024. Everett is the current assignee[2]
of the patent (source: MaxVal’s Assignment
Database).
The action sought redress for
Acella's deliberate and willful infringement of the ‘855 patent through manufacture
of the nutritional supplement product Choice-OB+DHA, before the expiration of
the '855 patent covering the caplet component of Select-OB®+DHA. Everett’s chewable
caplet is a combination of vitamin, mineral and omega-3 fatty acid and provides
vitamins and minerals to the body to help meet nutritional requirements.
According to the complaint, the
infringing product embodies the claimed invention and Everett faces substantial
and irreparable harm as a result of Acella's infringing sales of its
Choice-OB+DHA product. The lawsuit asked for damages plus interest for
infringement, as well as a permanent injunction on Acella's infringing
products.
A few other Everett vs. Acella
cases were consolidated in which 6 other patents: US6814983,
US7390509,
US6863904,
US8183227,
US8609629
and US8617617
were asserted and alleged nutritional supplemental products including
PNV-First, PNV-OB with DHA and Choice-Tabs as infringing.
The disputes have been settled as
the parties have voluntarily entered into a written settlement agreement,
effective Mar 21. Accordingly, Court signed off consent judgment and permanent
injunction in favor of Everett against Acella and declared the patents-in-suit valid.
See 1:13-cv-03487
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[1]
Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator
is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and
expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.
[2]
MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service
where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target
applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.
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