After five years of legal action, Penn will be awarded attorney fees after winning a patent case against the Alzheimer’s Institute of America.
The court awarded the fees on March 30 to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and Avid Radiopharmaceuticals. They had both been accused by the AIA for infringing on patents related to Alzheimer’s research, but were victorious in a federal jury trial three years ago.
A special master will be appointed to help determine the cost of the attorney fees owed. The fees will likely be upwards of several hundred thousand dollars.
The patent in question covers a range of Alzheimer’s disease-related technology, including certain acid codings used to examine a particular Swedish mutation of the disease, according to the official complaint filed on Nov. 24, 2010. The Swedish mutation is used in the AIA’s research to study the effects of Alzheimer’s disease in the lab or in animal testing.
The AIA claims that this form of research could allow for the discovery of a new method of early and accurate Alzheimer’s testing — a discovery with a great commercial value that Penn was well aware of, the AIA further alleges in the complaint.
The AIA filed the lawsuit after Penn researchers published a report in June of 2000. In the study, the complaint says, Penn researchers artificially grew mice with a particular mutation in order to test an imaging process that would help diagnose and track Alzheimer’s. In the complaint, the AIA alleges Penn was not authorized to use the strain of mouse due to the AIA patent.
The federal jury trial was held over the course of 10 days and concluded on April 23, 2012. U.S. District Judge Timothy Savage of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered in favor of Penn and Avid on May 2, 2012.
After the jury decision, the AIA filed several post-trial motions and an unsuccessful appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The defendants filed their motion for attorney fees from the AIA on May 16, 2012.
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