Law360, New York (August 08, 2012, 1:29 PM ET) -- In the last two decades, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice have relentlessly sought leeway in federal court to evaluate pay-for-delay settlements of patent infringement suits governed by the Hatch-Waxman Act (“HWA”) as potential violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.[1] Generally, the courts have not been receptive to these antitrust incursions to limit the scope of pharmaceutical patents. The recent appellate decision in K-Dur is a marked exception.[2]
Practitioners and experts are now predicting that the controversy is ripe for U.S....