Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp v. Breckenridge Pharmaceutical

Chen, Circuit Judge.

This case involves the complicated, potential double-patenting situation in which the later-filed of two related patents, which share a common specification and effective filing date, expires before the term of the earlier-filed patent due to an intervening change in law by Congress defining a patent's term. When the patent owner filed for the first patent, the governing law defined the patent term as 17 years from the date the patent issued. When the patent owner filed for its second, related patent, the governing law was amended to define the patent term as expiring 20…