According to Rubber & Plastic News (subscription required), the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last week denied Flexsys’ petition for a rehearing before the entire 11-judge panel regarding its ongoing patent infringement case against Shandong Sinorgchem. The petition involved a December 2007 decision from a 3-judge panel that vacated and remanded a February 2006 decision by the US International Trade Commission that found that Sinorgchem had infringed on the Flexsys patents (Flexys America’s U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,117,063 and 5,608,111) related to the manufacturing of 4-ADPA, the precursor to 6PPD.
This means that the case is being sent back to the ITC to address unresolved issues, which in this case involve the specifics of the two production processes. In other words, the case will continue in the courts with no resolution for some time.
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