Sun Pharm. Indus. v. Eli Lilly & Co., No. 2010-1105 (Fed. Cir. 2010) By a vote of 5-4, the Federal Circuit on Monday denied Eli Lilly's petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc from the court's July decision that affirmed the invalidity of Lilly's U.S. Patent No. 5,426,826 for obviousness-type double patenting.  Judge Newman was…

Sun Pharm. Indus. v. Eli Lilly & Co., No. 2010-1105 (Fed. Cir. 2010) The principle behind the doctrine of double patenting is simple:  a person may not obtain two patents on the same invention.  The doctrine "is intended to prevent a patentee from obtaining a timewise extension of [a] patent for the same invention or…