On Jan. 25, a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit issued two orders in the case, Therasense Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson & Co., about four patents, but the en banc rehearing request concerned only one ruling — about inequitable conduct.
On April 26, the Federal Circuit vacated that ruling, which affirmed a district court holding that a patent owned by Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. (the successor to Therasense) was unenforceable due to Abbott’s inequitable conduct. The patent covered “a test strip with an electrochemical sensor for testing whole blood.” According to court papers, the Northern District of California’s finding was based on Abbott’s failure to disclose relevant statements it made to the European Patent Office about a different patent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office when it was seeking approval for the patent in question.
