By Kevin E. Noonan — Last month in Cornell Research Foundation, Inc. v. Vidal, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s determinations in six inter partes review proceedings that invalidated the challenged claims for being obvious. The claims of the challenged patents were directed to methods for producing phytases (enzymes that help livestock absorb phosphate from the diet) for supplementing animal feed using genetic engineering to introduce and express a bacterial (Escherichia coli) phytase gene in fungal (typically yeast such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia pastoris) cells. The opinion sets forth the following as representative claims of…
