Bucking the U.S. government and the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday narrowly construed the “on-sale bar” to patent validity despite new language in the America Invents Act.

A three-judge panel led by Chief Judge Sharon Prost reversed a New Jersey federal judge’s decision finding that Helsinn Healthcare SA did not avoid the on-sale bar even if it kept some details of a drug sale confidential.