Reverse Payments: Impact of U.S. Supreme Court on Hatch-Waxman Litigation Webinar

Description

Jeffery Cross, a Partner in the Litigation Practice Group at Freeborn, is a featured panelist on the Intellectual Property Owners Association's (IPO) Webinar, “Reverse Payments: Impact of U.S. Supreme Court on Hatch-Waxman Litigation.” The webinar is scheduled to take place on Thursday, June 20, 2013 at 3:30 PM CST.

On June 17, the U.S. Supreme Court altered the landscape of Hatch-Waxman litigation. In its 5-3 opinion in FTC v. Actavis, the court denied antitrust immunity for litigation settlements including reverse payments from innovative pharmaceutical companies to generic companies. The majority said the scrutiny for anti-competitive effects of such settlements must be done under a "rule of reason" framework and rejected the FTC's view that reverse payments are presumptively illegal.
This new guidance to lower courts will impact the two dozen or so pending antitrust cases regarding reverse-pending settlements and will change the patent-challenge calculus going forward for both generic and innovator companies. Our panel includes an antitrust advocate who supported the FTC position, an appellate litigator who supported the now-rejected industry position, and another litigator with a broad background in antitrust. They will consider:

• How will the "rule of reason" structure evolve in these cases?
• What are the new rules for counseling generic companies considering launching a challenge?
• Will the number of patent challenges by generic companies decline?
• How will plaintiffs in antitrust cases meet post-Twombly pleading standards?
• What will be the role of the merit of the patent?
• Is Chief Justice Roberts' correct in his dissent that the "court's attempt to limit its holding to the context of patent settlements under Hatch-Waxman will not long hold"?

For more information or to register for the webinar, please visit the IPO website.