On-sale provision: the status quo remains

In December 2018, with the US Supreme Court hearing arguments in Helsinn Healthcare v Teva, some patent lawyers who spoke to WIPR were confident. They were confident not only that the court would reverse the previous ruling in the case, but that it was important it did so. In the end, however, the refusal to change the status quo surrounding the “on-sale” provision—the doctrine in dispute—will come as a disappointment to inventors.