Headquartered within steps of the USPTO with an affiliate office in Tokyo, Oblon is one of the largest law firms in the United States focused exclusively on intellectual property law.
1968
Norman Oblon with Stanley Fisher and Marvin Spivak launched what was to become Oblon, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, LLP, one of the nation's leading full-service intellectual property law firms.
Outside the US, we service companies based in Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and farther corners of the world. Our culturally aware attorneys speak many languages, including Japanese, French, German, Mandarin, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Farsi, Chinese.
Oblon's professionals provide industry-leading IP legal services to many of the world's most admired innovators and brands.
From the minute you walk through our doors, you'll become a valuable part of a team that fosters a culture of innovation, client service and collegiality.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued final rules implementing the inventor's oath or declaration provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA) on August 14, 2012.
April 28-30, 2024
November 16, 2023 - In-Person in Munich
October 27, 2023
Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) recently introduced the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act (S.27) concerning patent settlements with payments from an NDA holder to an ANDA filer. If enacted, the act would allow the FTC to presume anticompetitive behavior where an agreement limiting ANDA-related activity involves the ANDA holder receiving anything of value. In such a case, unless the parties to the agreement could provide clear and convincing evidence that the agreement’s procompetitive benefits outweigh its anticompetitive effects, the FTC could then impose penalties on the parties. These penalties could include financial penalties up to triple the value of any consideration reasonably attributable to the violation as well as a cease and desist order against the agreement. The bill would give broad power to the FTC to establish regulations “implementing and interpreting” these provisions.
The “reverse payment” agreements that this bill concerns have been subject to controversy, as in cases like Louisiana Wholesale Drug Co. v. Bayer AG (on which we previously reported). The bill and other proposed measures like it seek to encourage generic drug companies to market their ANDA products, increasing competition and lowering drug prices. The bill itself emphasizes that the Federal Government bears a large percentage of drug costs. However, under the bill, NDA holders and ANDA filers would have fewer options for settlement, which may result in increased litigation challenging patent validity and therefore increased uncertainty about pharmaceutical patent value. Furthermore, the bill sets a three-year statute of limitations, which may produce uncertainty regarding FTC disapproval of ANDA-related settlements.