Post-AstraZeneca: Has The Promise Doctrine Vanished From Patent Litigation? Likely, Yes

The Supreme Court of Canada abolished the Promise Doctrine over a year ago1 and, as discussed in our blog, it marked an important course correction for Canadian courts in the assessment of utility of a patent under section 2 of the Patent Act. In the past ten years, several patents — notably in the biopharmaceutical industry — were invalidated solely based on the promise of the patent doctrine and long before these pharmaceutical patents were due to expire. Although the Supreme Court of Canada's AstraZeneca decision last year did not have an instant impact on the promise doctrine, we predict the doctrine will soon vanish from patent litigation. Here's why.

Canadian Case Law Developments

In the post-AstraZeneca world,2 Canadian courts have been wary of breathing life into the promise doctrine, signaling the courts' commitment to preventing the doctrine from "resurfac[ing] under another principle without clear language to do so" (see Hospira at para 258). In several cases, the courts have upheld patents even where not all the promised utilities of a claim had been demonstrated or soundly predicted (see Bristol-Meyers at para 37). In applying the "mere scintilla of utility" standard (see Regents of the University of California at para 198), the courts have found that the utility requirement has been satisfied — provided that the patent shows "a clear practical purpose" (see Shapiro at para 158).

Both federal and provincial courts have rejected arguments that attempt to use the abolished doctrine under the guise of insufficiency or overbreadth. In a recent decision of the Superior Court of Ontario, Justice Quigley refused Apotex's amendments of its defence as being legally untenable, as the fresh invalidity arguments were a "repackaging of 'Promise Doctrine' based pleadings to satisfy the invalidity grounds set out in ss. 28 and 53 [of the Patent Act]".3 Before Justice Quigley, Apotex argued that "even if the Promise Doctrine is no longer good law for s. 2 validity purposes, it could nevertheless still invalidate a patent based on s. 28 or 53 if the facts pleaded would support findings of invalidity under...overbreadth or misrepresentation or fraud". The Court disagreed, holding that the Supreme Court of Canada did not intend the doctrine's rationale to permeate other patent requirements. In doing so, the Ontario Court considered extensive support for its position in a number of cases in which the Federal Court made clear that the promise...