Monthly Archives: July 2026

July 2, 2026, Patent of the Day

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On July 2, 1940, Enrico Fermi received U.S. Patent No. 2,206,634 on a process for the production of radioactive substances:

This patent on making radioactive elements through bombardment with slow moving neutrons, appears to be related to the work for which he won the 1938 Nobel Prize in physics. He would go on to earn thirteen more U.S. patents: U.S. Patent 2836554, “Air Cooled Neutronic Reactor,” issued April 1950; US Patent 2524379, “Neutron Velocity Selector,” issued October 1950; US Patent 2852461 “Neutronic Reactor”, issued September 1953; US Patent 2708656, “Neutronic Reactor”, issued May 1955; US Patent 2768134, “Testing Material in a Neutronic Reactor”, issued October 1956; US Patent 2780595, “Test Exponential Pile”, issued February 1957; US Patent 2798847, “Method of Operating a Neutronic Reactor”, issued July 1957; US Patent 2807581, “Neutronic Reactor”, issued September 1957; US Patent 2807727, “Neutronic Reactor Shield”, issued September 1957; US Patent 2813070, “Method of Sustaining a Neutronic Chain Reacting System”, issued November 1957; US Patent 2837477, “Chain Reacting System”, issued June 1958; US Patent 2931762, “Neutronic Reactor”, issued April 1960; US Patent 2969307, “Method of Testing Thermal Neutron Fissionable Material for Purity”, issued January 1961.

On a sad note, ten of these patents issued posthumously as Fermi died of cancer in 1954 at the age of 53 in November 1954. Apparently, Fermi always suspected that working near the nuclear pile involved great risk, yet he continued because he felt that the benefits outweighed the risks to his safety. Two of his graduate student assistants working near the nuclear pile also died of cancer.

Shaken, Not Waived: Federal Circuit Affirms the Bond Requirement for Preliminary Injunction

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In Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. v. Hetero Labs Limited, [2025-2016] (July 1, 2026), the Federal Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction based on infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,659,282against Hetero’s introduction of a generic version of Nuedexta (a drug used for treating neurological disorders), but vacated the district court’s waiving the requirement of the bond required by FRCP 65(c).

After Hetero signaled its intention ot launch its generic product on or after July 10, 2025, Otsuka sued them in the District of Delaware. After issuing a temporary restraining order against them, the district court granted a preliminary injunction on July 23, 2025. The district court did not require Otsuka to post a bond pending appeal because the equities weighed strongly in favor of waiving the Rule 65(c) bond.

The Federal Circuit affirmed the injunction, and turned the district court’s decision not to require a bond. The Federal Circuit began its analysis with the language of FRCP 65(c), noting the injunction is appropriate “only if the movant gives security in an amount that teh court considered proper to pay the costs and damages sustained by any party found to be wrongfully enjoined or restrained. The Federal Circuit noted that the Third Circuit has recognized only limited exceptions to the bond requirement, and has said that waiver is “so rare that the requirement is almost mandatory.”

The district court found that the risk of financial harm to Hetero “speculative at best” and expressed concern over the “chilling effect on access to justice” if a multi-million-dolllar bond were required,

Bound by the Third Circuit’s narrow exceptions to Rule 65(c), the Federal Circuit noted that the Third Circuit has never excused a district court from requiring a bond where an injunction prevents commercial, money-making activities. Because Hetero’s attempt to enter the market with its generic pharmaceutical product is clearly a commercial, money-making activity, the Federal Circuit vacated th Rule 65(c) bond waiver and remanded the bond issue to the district court for reconsideration.

The decision is important because it reinforces the requirement for a bond for injunctions, but in the present case, with the patent expiring within 43 days, on August 13, 2026, so the impact Otsuka and Hetero is limited.