Double Patenting, In re Basell Poliolefine; AIPLA Japan Committee 2009

Richard P. Beem presented this at the AIPLA Mid-winter Meeting of the IP Practice in Japan Committee in Miami, FL on January 28, 2009.   This presentation is focused on the issue of double patenting, particualrly in the In re Basell Poliolefine, decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2008.  This appeal was the culmination of about 35 years of prosecution, interferences and litigations involving multiple claims to the invention of crystalline polypropylene.  The presenter (Richard Beem) was one of the attorneys for Phillips Petroleum in a related case United States Steel Corp. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 865 F.2d 1247 (Fed. Cir. 1989).