CAFC Affirms PTAB: DexCom's Glucose Sensor Patent Claims Unpatentable
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruling that claims of DexCom, Inc.'s patent for implantable glucose sensors were unpatentable as obvious. The decision follows an inter partes review (IPR) brought by Abbott Diabetes Care, Inc. against DexCom's U.S. Patent No. 10,702,193.
DexCom had sued Abbott, alleging infringement of the '193 patent. Abbott subsequently petitioned for IPR, arguing that the challenged claims would have been obvious over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0215871 ('Feldman'). The PTAB instituted the IPR and agreed with Abbott's expert testimony that 'Feldman's Figures 4A-B would have been understood and interpreted by a person of ordinary skill in the art as encompassing' the claimed five-layer arrangement of stacked electrodes and non-conductive layers.
On appeal, DexCom argued that the Board did not consider that Feldman allows for other arrangements. However, the CAFC, in an opinion authored by Judge Nina Y. Wang of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, sitting by designation, ruled that the Board's reasoning was correct. The CAFC stated that the Board focused on what Feldman would teach or suggest to a person of ordinary skill in the art, rather than limiting itself to what Feldman literally says or shows. Abbott withdrew from the appeal before oral argument, and Acting Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Coke Morgan Stewart, intervened, relying on Abbott's brief.
The CAFC ultimately affirmed the PTAB's decision, concluding that DexCom's patent claims were unpatentable as obvious. The opinion regarding the Federal Supreme Court's decision was prepared by Dr. Michael Koenig on August 12, 2024. DexCom's appeal, arguing that only the filed version of Feldman should have been considered as prior art, was waived by Abbott. The CAFC's decision brings finality to the patent dispute between DexCom and Abbott.
