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| Gilead Sovaldi and Harvoni |
Reuters - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a defeat to Merck & Co (MRK.N) by refusing to hear its appeal of a ruling that it had dishonestly obtained patent rights and could not collect a $200 million verdict against rival drug maker Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O) in a dispute involving blockbuster hepatitis C drugs.
A jury awarded Merck $200 million in 2016 after finding Gilead’s Hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni infringed two of its patents, but a judge later ruled the patents unenforceable because of a pattern of misconduct by Merck including lying under oath by one of its in-house lawyers. Merk in the process of applying for one of the patents, Merck used confidential information it obtained in 2004 while discussing a possible partnership with Pharmasset Inc, a company Gilead bought in 2011.
Merck had urged the Supreme Court to place limits on the doctrine of “unclean hands” that can prevent plaintiffs from winning lawsuits if they acted in bad faith.
This is the second loss Merk faced against cases with GIlead. In 2016, a jury in Delaware said Gilead infringed a related patent and ordered it to pay Merck $2.54 billion in royalties, the largest verdict ever in a patent case. But a judge threw out the verdict in February 2018, ruling that Merck’s patent was invalid because it was not sufficiently detailed in its wording.
A jury awarded Merck $200 million in 2016 after finding Gilead’s Hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni infringed two of its patents, but a judge later ruled the patents unenforceable because of a pattern of misconduct by Merck including lying under oath by one of its in-house lawyers. Merk in the process of applying for one of the patents, Merck used confidential information it obtained in 2004 while discussing a possible partnership with Pharmasset Inc, a company Gilead bought in 2011.
Merck had urged the Supreme Court to place limits on the doctrine of “unclean hands” that can prevent plaintiffs from winning lawsuits if they acted in bad faith.
This is the second loss Merk faced against cases with GIlead. In 2016, a jury in Delaware said Gilead infringed a related patent and ordered it to pay Merck $2.54 billion in royalties, the largest verdict ever in a patent case. But a judge threw out the verdict in February 2018, ruling that Merck’s patent was invalid because it was not sufficiently detailed in its wording.
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