Copan Italia Spa v. Puritan Medical Products Company LLC

101 F.4th 847
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit·Decided May 14, 2024·No. 22-1943·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Case: 22-1943 Document: 61 Page: 1 Filed: 05/14/2024

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

COPAN ITALIA SPA, COPAN DIAGNOSTICS INC., Plaintiffs-Appellees

v.

PURITAN MEDICAL PRODUCTS COMPANY LLC, PURITAN DIAGNOSTICS LLC, PURITAN MEDICAL PRODUCTS COMPANY I LP, HARDWOOD PRODUCTS COMPANY LLC, Defendants-Appellants ______________________

2022-1943 ______________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maine in No. 1:18-cv-00218-JDL, Chief Judge Jon D. Levy. ______________________

Decided: May 14, 2024 ______________________

MICHAEL NEWMAN, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glov- sky and Popeo, P.C., Boston, MA, argued for plaintiffs-ap- pellees. Also represented by PETER CUOMO, ANDREW H. DEVOOGD, COURTNEY PATRICE HERNDON, JAMES M. WODARSKI.

JAMES H. HULME, ArentFox Schiff LLP, Washington, DC, argued for defendants-appellants. Also represented by Case: 22-1943 Document: 61 Page: 2 Filed: 05/14/2024

TANIEL E. ANDERSON, JANINE A. CARLAN, KEVIN R. PINKNEY; MICHAEL L. SCARPATI, New York, NY. ______________________

Before CUNNINGHAM, BRYSON, and STARK, Circuit Judges. STARK, Circuit Judge. Copan Italia S.p.A. and Copan Diagnostics Inc. (collec- tively, “Copan”) brought a patent infringement case against Puritan Medical Products Company LLC and its affiliated companies (collectively, “Puritan”) in the United States District Court for the District of Maine. Puritan filed a partial motion to dismiss, alleging that it was im- mune from liability and suit for a portion of its accused product under a provision of the Pandemic Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (“PREP Act”). On June 1, 2022, the district court denied the motion, and Puritan now appeals. We find we lack jurisdiction and, accordingly, dis- miss the appeal. I Puritan makes “flocked” swabs “for collecting biological specimens.” J.A. 129. A flocked swab consists “of a rod [with] a tip covered with fiber with hydrophilic properties” that can absorb biological specimens. Id. The fibers in a flocked swab are deposited by flocking, a process by which the tip of the rod is sprayed with an adhesive so that tiny fibers can attach, creating a fiber layer. Copan holds sev- eral patents on flocked swabs and methods of using them. On June 1, 2018, Copan filed a patent infringement complaint against Puritan in the District of Maine, alleging that Puritan directly and indirectly infringed and infringes several of its swab patents. As relief, Copan sought “dam- ages caused to Plaintiff by Defendant’s unlawful acts of pa- tent infringement,” as well as a permanent injunction. J.A. Case: 22-1943 Document: 61 Page: 3 Filed: 05/14/2024

COPAN ITALIA SPA v. 3 PURITAN MEDICAL PRODUCTS COMPANY LLC

119. 1 The case proceeded normally throughout 2018 and 2019. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. On March 10, 2020, the Secretary of Health and Human Services issued a Dec- laration Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Pre- paredness Act for Medical Countermeasures Against COVID-19, which declared the COVID-19 pandemic a pub- lic health emergency. See 85 Fed. Reg. 15198, 15201 (Mar. 17, 2020). On May 15, 2020, Copan and Puritan jointly moved to stay this litigation. Both parties requested a stay until after “the crisis passes” because, in part, “all of their resources at this time are best devoted to producing viral testing materials.” J.A. 3848. At that time, demand for flocked swabs had skyrocketed, as they were used in many of the new tests for detecting whether an individual was afflicted with COVID-19. Given the spike in sales, the par- ties further indicated in their stay motion that they ex- pected “the current pandemic could fundamentally change the contours of this case.” J.A. 3848. On May 18, 2020, the district court granted the stay. On July 29, 2020, Puritan entered into a contract with the United States Air Force (“Air Force”) in which Puritan agreed to expand its facilities for manufacturing flocked swabs. In a document associated with an amendment to that contract, the Air Force stated: In accordance with the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (“PREP Act”), Pub. L. No. 109-148, Division C, Section 2, as amended (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 247d-6d and 42 U.S.C. 247d-6e), as well as the Secretary of [Health and Human Services’] Declaration Under the Public Readiness and Emergency

1 Copan later dropped its request for injunctive re- lief. J.A. 4552-53. Case: 22-1943 Document: 61 Page: 4 Filed: 05/14/2024

Preparedness Act for Medical Countermeas- ures Against COVID-19 (the “PREP Act Dec- laration”), 85 Fed. Reg. 15198 (Mar. 17. 2020, effective Feb. 4, 2020), (i) this Agreement is being entered into for purposes of production capability expansion for “Covered Counter- measures” for responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency, in accordance with Section VI of the PREP Act Declaration; (ii) Contractor’s performance of this Agreement falls within the scope of the “Recommended Activities” for responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency; and (iii) Contractor is a “Covered Person” to the extent it is a per- son defined in Section V of the PREP Act Dec- laration. Therefore, in accordance with Sections IV and VII of the PREP Act Declara- tion as well as the PREP Act (42 U.S.C. § 247d-6d), the Air Force expressly acknowl- edges and agrees that Contractor shall be im- mune from suit and liability to the extent and as long as Contractor’s activities fall within the terms and conditions of the PREP Act and the PREP Act Declaration.

J.A. 4231-32. Puritan indicates that this contract provided it with the funds necessary to construct a new factory it calls “P3,” where Puritan manufactures some of its flocked swabs. At the parties’ request, the district court lifted the stay in October 2021, reopening fact discovery. At that point, Puritan asserted it had immunity from certain of Copan’s patent infringement claims by virtue of the PREP Act, 42 U.S.C. § 247d-6d. Puritan sought to amend its answer to include the affirmative defense of PREP Act immunity. Puritan also filed a partial motion to dismiss Copan’s pa- tent infringement claims to the extent they were directed Case: 22-1943 Document: 61 Page: 5 Filed: 05/14/2024

COPAN ITALIA SPA v. 5 PURITAN MEDICAL PRODUCTS COMPANY LLC

at flocked swabs Puritan made at the P3 facility. According to Puritan, the only swabs it was producing at P3 were those required to fulfill the Air Force contract, which ex- pressly recognized Puritan’s PREP Act immunity. Puritan asked the trial court to take judicial notice of the Air Force contract and certain Food and Drug Admin- istration (“FDA”) documents. It further requested that the district court find from these materials that Puritan had immunity from “all claims for loss” under the PREP Act, including claims for patent infringement, on the grounds that all flocked swabs made at the P3 factory constituted “covered countermeasures.” 42 U.S.C. § 247d-6d(a)(1). In response, Copan argued that Puritan enjoyed no im- munity from liability for patent infringement. In Copan’s view, the PREP Act does not apply to claims for patent in- fringement; instead, the immunity it confers is limited to claims for “loss” due to physical harm (e.g., product liability claims).

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Copan Italia Spa v. Puritan Medical Products Company LLC, 101 F.4th 847 (Fed. Cir. 2024).

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