District of Delaware Judge Gregory Sleet refused to dismiss class action complaints filed by director purchasers and end-payors of AstraZeneca’s Toprol-XL. Plaintiffs alleged that the patent was obtained through inequitable conduct and that infringement litigation blocking the entry of a generic competitor was sham litigation. AstraZeneca argued that the delay was the result of the statutory scheme governing generic entry, not its own conduct. The court rejected this claim, holding that discovery was necessary to determine whether the defendant acted inequitably before the PTO. The Federal Circuit has already upheld a ruling that the relevant patents are invalid, but that court rejected a finding of inequitable conduct.
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