Kirin-Amgen v. TKT – an American perspective to the U.K. House of Lords decision

The Honorable Randall R. Rader, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, May 2005

On October 21, 2004, the House of Lords, the highest appellate court in the U.K., delivered its opinion in the biotechnology case Kirin Amgen v. Hoechst & TKT concerning a patent for Erythropoietin. After a careful assessment of the approach to infringement analysis in the U.K., the Court ultimately invalidated the patent in suit. Judge Rader will comment on this decision and compare the approach of the House of Lords to that of the CAFC generally and to the January 6, 2003 CAFC decision in the parallel case Amgen v. Hoechst Marion Roussell.