In Law360, Matt Rizzolo Discusses Federal Circuit Opinion on PREP Act Immunity for Patent Infringement Claims

In a recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion, the Federal Circuit was presented with a question of whether the PREP Act — a decades-old law enacted to ensure the availability of products in a public health emergency — provides immunity for patent infringement claims.

However, the court dodged the issue, finding that it lacked appellate jurisdiction because the district court order denying a motion to dismiss didn’t fully resolve the immunity issue. The result is that the question of whether the PREP Act applies to patent infringement claims remains unresolved and will be addressed in the first instance by the district court.

In a Law360 article, IP litigation partner Matt Rizzolo, who has previously written about the topic, said that the issue of whether the PREP Act applies is going to remain undecided for quite some time.