You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday rejected Vanderbilt University's arguments that its researchers deserved joint credit for inventing two of the underlying compounds and methods for treating erectile dysfunction that resulted in the hugely profitable (and high-profile) drug Cialis. Two of the three judges, whose decision upheld a lower court's 2009 ruling, concluded that Vanderbilt had not proven that its researchers qualified as joint inventors of the patented work, even though the lower court had erred in the approach it used to reach its judgment. A third judge, in a dissenting opinion, said the appeals panel should have overturned the lower court's ruling.
