Learning a tough lesson on how to write patent descriptions

Description

Abstract: In one recent case, the holder of a patent on some modified enzymes learned a tough lesson on how to write a patent description. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit determined that the plaintiff’s 2000 application didn’t adequately demonstrate that, by the filing date, it had invented and possessed the particular variant enzymes that it claimed almost a decade later. The case shows that it’s not enough to list the various claims one hopes an invention will end up with; it’s necessary to show current possession of such an invention. Novozymes A/S v. DuPont Nutrition Biosciences APS, No. 2012-1433, July 22, 2013 (Fed. Cir.)