A Virginia federal judge on Wednesday upheld a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision that denied patent applications from drug developer La Jolla Pharma LLC claiming a unique dosage and delivery method of a drug the company markets to treat low blood pressure, finding the claims are all anticipated or obvious.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Patent Office Beats La Jolla Pharma's Application Denial Suit

By Craig Clough

A Virginia federal judge on Wednesday upheld a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision that denied patent applications from drug developer La Jolla Pharma LLC claiming a unique dosage and delivery method of a drug the company markets to treat low blood pressure, finding the claims are all anticipated or obvious.

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Supplement Cos. Challenge FDA Health Claim Denials

By Gianna Ferrarin

A group of health supplement companies hit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with a suit in D.C. federal court Wednesday alleging regulators wrongly denied them approval to make over 100 distinct claims concerning the health benefits of their products.

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3rd Circ. Says Medical Pot Contract May Violate Federal Law

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Third Circuit on Thursday vacated a medical cannabis company's win in a lawsuit filed by a consultant claiming that it had stolen his trade secrets for growing marijuana samples, finding it couldn't decide the appeal because the parties' contract might have violated federal drug law.

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Merck Can't Get Fed. Circ. To Reconsider Axing MS Drug Patents

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit on Thursday refused to reconsider decisions invalidating Merck KGaA patents on the blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Mavenclad, turning aside the German drugmaker's claim that the court set an unjust new rule that means inventors' work can later be used against them.

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POLICY & REGULATION

House Report Claims Evidence of CVS Antitrust Violations

By Bryan Koenig

House Judiciary Committee staffers said Wednesday that they'd uncovered "a pattern of anticompetitive activity" in CVS Health tactics aimed at coercing independent pharmacies into avoiding working with online services the company saw as a threat to its own pharmacy and pharmacy benefit manager businesses.

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LITIGATION

Medical Cannabis Co. Says Data Breach Didn't Lead To Injury

By Mike Curley

An Ohio medical cannabis company has said a consolidated class action in federal court should be dismissed as it doesn't allege any of the plaintiffs' data was accessed in a data breach or that the breach could be linked to any real damage.

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Investors Drop LA Law Firm From Bioscience Fraud Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A group of investors including a "Toy Story" screenwriter pursuing an $87 million fraud suit against a bioscience company in California state court has agreed to drop claims against a California law firm and its name partner, with the firm in turn withdrawing an anti-SLAPP motion it filed in the suit.

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AI Diagnostics Co.'s Patent Claims Don't Pass Alice Test

By Adam Lidgett

A California federal judge has thrown out artificial intelligence diagnostics company Tempus AI's patent infringement suit against medical test-maker Guardant Health, finding claims in the patents weren't patent-eligible to begin with.

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Hologic Faces Del. Class Suit Over $18.3B Sale Disclosures

By Jeff Montgomery

Citing alleged failures to make news about litigation settlements public ahead of a proposed $18.3 billion company sale, a pension fund stockholder of women's health-focused tech company Hologic Inc. has sued for a Delaware Court of Chancery hold on the deal pending disclosures or damages awards.

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PEOPLE

Simpson Thacher Adds Quinn Emanuel Atty To New SF Office

By Gina Kim

A Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP attorney who worked on high-profile intellectual property matters representing Google and Jane Street Group has joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP as partner in its newly opened San Francisco office, the firm announced Thursday.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Regulatory Uncertainty Ahead For Organ Transplant System

Pending court cases against a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services final rule that introduced a competition-centric model for assessing organ procurement organizations' performance will significantly influence the path forward for such organizations and transplant hospitals, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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Opinion

It's Too Soon To Remove Suicide Warnings From GLP-1 Drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision this month to order removal of warnings about the risk of suicidal thoughts from GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is premature — and from a safety and legal standpoint, the downside of acting too soon could be profound, says Sean Domnick at Rafferty Domnick.

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Key False Claims Act Trends From The Last Year

The False Claims Act remains a powerful enforcement tool after some record verdicts and settlements in 2025, and while traditional fraud areas remain a priority, new initiatives are raising questions about its expanding application, says Veronica Nannis at Joseph Greenwald.

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Fed. Circ. Patent Decisions In 2025: An Empirical Review

In 2025, the Federal Circuit's increased output was not enough to keep up with its ever-growing patent case load, and patent owners and applicants fared poorly overall as the court's affirmance rate fell, says Dan Bagatell at Perkins Coie.

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Series

Hosting Exchange Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Opening my home to foreign exchange students makes me a better lawyer not just because prioritizing visiting high schoolers forces me to hone my organization and time management skills but also because sharing the study-abroad experience with newcomers and locals reconnects me to my community, says Alison Lippa at Nicolaides Fink.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London saw Travelers Insurance hit with a claim from a property buyer over a payout tied to collapsed law firm Axiom Ince, Swedish music group Pophouse Entertainment clash with the production company that helped it create the ABBA Voyage experience, and biotech company Vertex Pharmaceuticals sue rival entity ToolGen for patent infringement.

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Analysis

More Push In The 'Push-Pull' As DOJ Targets 'Gamesmanship'

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice continues to build its task force targeting "gamesmanship" that it says BigLaw attorneys for major companies, especially technology platforms, are using to obstruct antitrust investigations — an effort that has been welcomed by some practitioners and questioned by others.

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5 Arrests Made In Shooting Of Indiana Judge, Wife

By Lynn LaRowe

Five people have been charged in connection with the shooting of an Indiana Superior Court Judge and his wife at their home Sunday following an investigation involving state law enforcement in Indiana and Kentucky and federal agencies.

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Shook Hardy Adds 2 E-Discovery-Focused Partners

By Matt Perez

Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP has hired two e-discovery experts as partners for its complex litigation strategic counseling practice in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

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Dems Push For Another Round Of Jack Smith Testimony

By Courtney Bublé

Following former special counsel Jack Smith's congressional appearance, Democrats are looking for him to return once he is able to speak about the second volume of his report on President Donald Trump's retention of classified documents after he left office.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Williams & Connolly LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court held in a unanimous opinion that restitution is a criminal punishment subject to the Constitution's ban on increasing punishment retroactively.

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DOJ Alumni Back Maurene Comey In Effort To Keep Suit Alive

By Rose Krebs

U.S. Department of Justice alumni and a group that includes attorneys, law professors and former judges have filed briefs supporting former Manhattan federal prosecutor Maurene Comey's call for a New York federal court to reject the DOJ's bid to dismiss a suit over her firing.

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How Attorneys Can Balance Careers With Caring For Parents

By Kevin Penton

As baby boomers get older and develop more intense healthcare needs, attorneys in the prime of their careers are increasingly pressed to also provide care to their elderly parents.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

The EEOC voted to retract major harassment and discrimination protections as civil rights advocates protested. And Goldman Sachs denied rumors it was easing out its prominent chief legal officer despite the lingering stigma over her association with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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Embezzler's Legal Malpractice Claims Too Late, Court Says

By Julie Manganis

A convicted embezzler who accused her attorneys of botching her defenses in criminal and civil cases cannot rely on a longer six-year statute of repose for breach of contract claims to overcome her delay in filing a legal malpractice case, an intermediate Massachusetts appellate court said Friday.

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Promo that reads 2025 Practice Groups of the Year

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

A.P. Moller-Maersk

Amazon.com Inc.

Amedisys Inc.

American Bar Association

American Federation of Teachers

Apple Inc.

ByteDance Ltd.

CLS Bank International

CVS Health Corp.

Campaign Legal Center

Compass Minerals International, Inc.

Crawford & Co.

Dell Technologies Inc.

Deutsche Bank AG

Duke University

EMD Serono Inc.

Eli Lilly & Co.

Epic Games Inc.

Epiq Systems Inc.

Esperion Therapeutics Inc.

Executive Health Resources Inc.

Frontier Communications Parent Inc.

Gilead Sciences Inc.

Gleason Corp.

Google LLC

Guardant Health Inc.

Hologic Inc.

Illumina Inc.

Instagram Inc.

Investments Ltd.

JND Legal Administration Co.

Jane Street Group LLC

Johns Hopkins University

Johnson & Johnson

KKR & Co. Inc.

Kroll LLC

Law Finance Group Management Co.

LifeLink Foundation

Lighthouse eDiscovery Inc.

LinkedIn Corp.

Lonza Group Ltd.

Manchester United

Mars Inc.

MasterCard Inc.

Merck & Co. Inc.

Merck KGaA

Meta Platforms Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

Millennium Management LLC

Mitsubishi Corp.

Moelis & Co.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

National Education Association

Novo Nordisk A S

Omnicare Inc.

Oracle Corp.

Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd.

Pfizer Inc.

RTX Corp.

Rite Aid Corp.

Snap Inc.

Sofie Biosciences Inc.

Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd.

Stanford University

Supervalu Inc.

TPG Capital LP

Tempus AI

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Therium Capital Management Ltd.

TikTok Inc.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

UBS Group AG

UnitedHealth Group Inc.

University of Virginia

Verizon Communications Inc.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Addleshaw Goddard

Arnold & Porter

Bird Marella

Boies Schiller

Clare Locke

Clarick Gueron

Clyde & Co

Cooch & Taylor

Covington & Burling

Crowell & Moring

Cuneo Gilbert

Davis Polk

Devonshires Solicitors

Druces LLP

Dwyer LLC

Emord & Associates

Enyo Law

Fennemore

Foley Hoag

Fox Rothschild

Gibson Dunn

Greenberg Traurig

Husch Blackwell

Irwin Mitchell

Joseph Greenwald & Laake

Kennedys Law LLP

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Koskoff Koskoff

Lanier Law Firm

Latham & Watkins

Lewis Silkin

Markovits Stock

McGuireWoods

Meritz Reddy

Milbank LLP

Mishcon de Reya

Morris Nichols

Munger Tolles

Nicolaides Fink

Offit Kurman

Parker Shaffie

Peabody & Arnold

Perkins Coie

Pierson Ferdinand LLP

Pinsent Masons

Procopio Cory

Quinn Emanuel

Rafferty Domnick

Reed Smith

Reynolds Porter

Shook Hardy

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Skadden Arps

Smith Gambrell

Spratt Endicott

Sterne Kessler

Stradley Ronon

Sullivan & Cromwell

Thompson Burton

Vinson & Elkins

Wachtell Lipton

Walker Morris LLP

Webb Law Firm

Wharton Law

Wiechert Munk

Williams & Connolly

WilmerHale

Wilson Sonsini

Winston & Strawn

Wolf Haldenstein

Wolf Popper

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Companies House

Delaware Court of Chancery

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Reserve System

Federal Trade Commission

Food and Drug Administration

Indiana Supreme Court

International Trade Commission

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Texas Supreme Court

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. District Court of the District of New Hampshire

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO)

United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio