On September 27, 2022, Venable Fitzpatrick secured a victory on behalf of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation on a motion to dismiss certain defendants’ counterclaims in patent litigation concerning Novartis’s Entresto drug product.
In the motion, Novartis sought to dismiss declaratory judgment counterclaims filed by defendants Hetero and Torrent against three patents for which Hetero and Torrent had filed “Section viii” statements. Judge Richard G. Andrews, of the District Court for the District of Delaware, agreed with Novartis that a defendant who files a Section viii statement does not face an Article III controversy of sufficient immediacy to support the exercise of jurisdiction over its counterclaims. Judge Andrews also determined that Hetero’s and Torrent’s allegations concerning other potential sources of Article III controversy were too speculative to support jurisdiction over their counterclaims.
Novartis was represented on the motion by Christopher Loh, Nicholas Kallas, Jared Stringham, Christina Schwarz, Greg Manas, and Carrie Park.