Litigation Note: Crowell & Moring Secures IP Victory for Watson Pharmaceuticals (now Actavis)

Washington, D.C. – April 15, 2013: Crowell & Moring represented Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (now Actavis, Inc.) in successfully defending the patent infringement case brought by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. regarding its RE37,564 patent for the Yaz ® contraceptive. Today, the Federal Circuit reversed the adverse summary judgment decision made by the district court in March 2012 and held that Bayer's asserted patent claims were invalid. The court found that the cited prior art references set forth every limitation required by the asserted claims and provide express motivation to combine those teachings to derive the claimed oral contraceptive product. As a result of the decision today, Actavis has re-launched its generic product.