Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp v Wyeth LLC (No 4)

Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp v Wyeth LLC (No 4) involved a dispute over the validity and infringement of certain patents relating to pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation (MSD) sought to challenge the validity of Wyeth's patents, while Wyeth sought injunctive relief for alleged infringement of their patents. The court was required to determine whether an injunction should be granted to Wyeth and how to allocate costs between the parties, who had achieved mixed success in the litigation.

The court considered whether public health considerations should influence the granting of injunctive relief. MSD argued that a separate hearing was necessary to address public health implications before granting an injunction. However, the court found that public health considerations had not been raised during the trial and were not a basis for deferring the injunction. The court granted Wyeth an injunction restraining MSD from engaging in acts that may infringe the asserted patent claims, noting that MSD had not provided sufficient evidence to justify deferring the injunction.

Regarding costs, the court considered that both parties had achieved partial success. The court decided to make separate costs orders for different patents. MSD was ordered to pay 85% of Wyeth's costs relating to the 013 and 844 Patents, while Wyeth was ordered to pay 80% of MSD's costs relating to the Container Patent. The court noted that these orders reflected the mixed outcomes of the litigation and the respective successes of each party.

The final orders included a permanent injunction restraining MSD from infringing certain claims of the 013 Patent, revocation of specific claims of the 844 and Container Patents, a stay on the revocation orders pending any appeal, and specific cost orders between the parties.