In December 2016, a Delaware jury found that Gilead had failed to prove the asserted patent in this case was invalid and awarded damages of $2.54 billion. But Chief Judge Stark has now granted Gilead’s motion for judgment as a matter of law that the asserted claims are not enabled. Although Gilead also moved for JMOL or a new trial with respect to damages, Judge Stark denied that motion and a motion arguing that the asserted patent failed the written description requirement. Instead, Judge Stark found that because “the Structural Limitations [of the asserted claims] are satisfied by such a large number of compounds . . . the amount of experimentation to refine this broad set of compounds to those that also satisfy the Functional Limitations [of the asserted claims], given the limited teachings on this point in the patent and the state of the prior art, is an ‘undue’ amount. Thus, the only conclusion that can be reached based on the trial record is that the asserted claims . . . are invalid for lack of enablement.”Idenix Pharmaceuticals LLC, et al. v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., C.A. No. 14-846-LPS, Op. at 45-46 (D. Del. Feb. 16, 2018).
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