In Genetics Institute, LLC v. Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc., C.A. No. 08-290-SLR (D. Del. Feb. 24, 2010), Judge Robinson recently construed the following claim language of plaintiff’s patent:
“truncated Factor VIII Protein which is an active procoagulant”
A Factor VIII protein that promotes blood coagulation and lacks a portion of the amino acid sequence of the human Factor VIII protein.
“having a peptide sequence of human factor VIII:C but lacking a peptide region selected from the group consisting of”
Having the amino acid sequence of the human Factor VIII protein lacking only the particular segment of the human Factor VIII protein in one of the specified alternatives (a), (b) or (c).
Here, plaintiff had argued for a broad interpretation of the claim (i.e., “lacking a peptide region of at least the regions identified in (a), (b) or (c).”). Id. at 3. Plaintiff argued, among other things, that the PTO’s granting of a term extension for its patent based on its construction of the relevant claim be given great deference. Id. However, Judge Robinson noted that “[c]laim construction is a matter of law and, therefore, does not fall within the PTO’s technical expertise (assuming that the PTO went through the claim construction exercise in the first instance).” Id. at 4.
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