Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione successfully represented Sandoz Inc. in an appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dealing with claim construction and the Court’s en banc ruling on the proper interpretation of product-by-process claims.

In a landmark decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s claim construction, and the en banc Court resolved the long-standing conflict on the interpretation of product-by-process claims between its prior decisions in Atlantic Thermoplastics and Scripps Clinic. Following Supreme Court precedent, the Court upheld the rule in Atlantic Thermoplastics that product-by-process claims are limited by their process steps.