District Court takes another logical step to expand the safe harbor

With one paragraph in a Summary Judgment Order issued July 24, the Northern District of California further expanded the patent safe harbor under 37 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1).

Though not a huge leap from previous safe harbor decisions, the Order in Nevro Corp. v. Boston Scientific Corp. held that use of a patented invention in clinical trials falls within the safe harbor provision “even after the patients have completed their participation in the trial.” Docket No. 16-cv-06830 (N.D. Cal.,
July 2018).

In this case, Nevro sued Boston Scientific alleging infringement of its patents relating to Nevro’s Senza and HF10 spinal cord stimulation systems.