Merck: Lawyer Misdeeds Don’t Justify Nixing $200M Patent Win

Merck & Co Inc.’s $200 million patent infringement win against Gilead Sciences Inc. should be revived, because the company’s alleged misconduct didn’t have any real effect on the case, a Merck lawyer told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit at a Feb. 5 oral argument.

A California jury found Gilead’s Sovaldi hepatitis C drug infringed two Merck patents, but U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Judge Beth Labson Freeman threw out the award under the doctrine of unclean hands, citing what she called Merck’s “pervasive pattern of misconduct.”

The Federal Circuit’s ruling could clarify ...