Judge Raps Abbott Attorney in Rare ‘Inequitable Conduct’ Sanction

Patent Law

Judge Raps Abbott Attorney in Rare ‘Inequitable Conduct’ Sanction

Posted Jun 26, 2008, 03:38 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

A federal judge has held that an Abbott Laboratories patent is unenforceable because of the "inequitable conduct" of an in-house lawyer.

Attorney Lawrence Pope withheld important information when applying for the so-called '551 patent, the judge found, concerning a position Abbott had previously taken on the so-called '381 patent, reports the Recorder. Applications for the '551 patent had previously been rejected more than a dozen times by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, citing the '382 patent.

Although Pope testified that he didn't intend to conceal any material information when making the patent application, Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California described him as unconvincing witness in a written opinion in the case, the legal publication recounts.

"The withheld evidence here was richly material," Alsup writes in the 54-page opinion. "And, intent to deceive, not just to withhold, was clearly in the mind of attorney Pope, hard as it is to so conclude as to a professional."

Pope, who is now counsel at Mayer Brown in Chicago, declined to comment, referring the Recorder to Illinois-based Abbott. A company representative did not respond to its requests for comment.

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