Invalidity dossier
US 6214376
Non-gelatin substitutes for oral delivery capsules, their composition and process of manufacture
Current assignee: Patheon Softgels Inc
Added 9/23/2026, 1:38:37 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 6,214,376 B1
Title: Non-gelatin substitutes for oral delivery capsules, their composition and process of manufacture
Patent number: US 6,214,376 B1
Application number: US 09/140,758
Inventor: Aristippos Gennadios
Original assignee: Banner Pharmacaps Inc. (listed current assignee in the supplied text: Patheon Softgels Inc.)
Filing/priority date: 1998-08-25
Publication (grant) date: 2001-04-10
Legal status shown: Expired – Lifetime (anticipated expiration 2018-08-25)
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6214376/en
Purpose. The patent addresses substitutes for gelatin in oral delivery capsules—i.e., capsule compositions and manufacturing processes that avoid gelatin while still forming capsules.
Plain-language scope (from the supplied text). The excerpt identifies the invention in terms of a composition and a manufacturing process. Recurring components named in the supplied classification/term data include carrageenan, a plasticizer, water, and gel; other substances listed include dextrin, maltodextrin, glycerine/glycerol, sorbitol, gum arabic (acacia), xanthan gum, locust bean gum, gellan gum, mannan, starch, maltitol, lactitol, xylitol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and various salts, colorants, antioxidants, and diluents. Processing terms appearing include cooling, heat treatment, casting, and sealing—consistent with forming and closing capsule films. The terms "gelatin" (and "gel," "gelatine") recur, reflecting that the disclosed subject matter is defined by its relationship to gelatin-containing capsules.
What the excerpt does not establish. The supplied text omits the actual claim language, the abstract, the written description, and the examples. Therefore this overview cannot state claim limitations, ingredient weight percentages or ratios, the number and scope of claims, the specific manufacturing steps or their order, or the technical advantages asserted over gelatin capsules. It also does not establish validity, enforceability, or the accuracy of any listed assignee or legal-status entry; the source itself notes the legal status and assignee listings are assumptions, not legal conclusions. No litigation, prior-art, or ownership-transfer analysis is provided here.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:52:58 PM
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Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
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No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.