Disparaging in Context: Motivation to Combine Exists Even For a Markedly Inferior Element

The Federal Circuit upheld the PTAB's ruling on Novartis's U.S. Patent No. 9,220,631, affirming that the claims were unpatentably obvious, despite arguments against prior art.

Rejecting Novartis's teaching-away argument, the court underscored that negative descriptions in prior art do not preclude a finding of obviousness in patent claims.

Read at Patently-O