Medical Device Daily Article Quotes Loring on 2010 Patent Issues

Ropes & Gray IP litigation partner Denise Loring was quoted in the Dec. 23 issue of Medical Device Daily in an article on patent issues moving through the federal circuit courts as the year came to a close.

Quoted at length on a number of cases, Loring addressed aspects of Therasense v. Becton Dickinson and Prometheus v. Mayo Collaborative Services as well as application of the machine-or-transformation test to pharmaceutical method claims.

When asked whether the U.S. Supreme Court would be likely to take up the issue of diagnostic test claims, Loring said, “If I had to bet, I would bet they’re not going to take these cases” at this time.  When asked the best way to insure patentability of diagnostic test claims, Loring said, “You have to try to tie your claims to ways of treating patients,” to avoid headaches, she said. “Treating patients is always transformative.”

Ropes & Gray's intellectual property group provides a full range of IP rights and management services from licensing and transactions to rights protection and full-scale litigation. With a team of more than 200 lawyers, 40 patent agents and technical advisors and 60 paralegals, Ropes & Gray advises industry innovators on their most challenging issues, anywhere in the world.

In June, the firm won Chambers USA’s 2010 "Award for Excellence" as the leading practice in the United States for intellectual property, and The International Who's Who of Patent Lawyers has named five Ropes & Gray partners to its distinguished list for 2010. Two other surveys by Managing IP and Asia IP recently ranked Ropes & Gray’s IP practices among the best in the world. The firm was also ranked in the first tier nationally for intellectual property in the U.S. News-Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” survey released in September.