Invalidity dossier
US 6362178
2-phenyl substituted imidazotriazinones as phosphodiesterase inhibitors
Current assignee: Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH
Added 9/21/2026, 9:25:36 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US6362178B1
Title: 2-phenyl substituted imidazotriazinones as phosphodiesterase inhibitors
Assignee: Original assignee Bayer AG; current assignee listed as Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH (the source notes listed assignees may be inaccurate).
Key dates: Priority 1997-11-12 (from DE19750085A); application filed 1998-10-31; granted/published 2002-03-26; anticipated expiration 2018-10-31. Legal status listed as "Expired - Lifetime."
Application: US09/554,162.
Purpose: The patent concerns 2-phenyl-substituted imidazotriazinones and their use as phosphodiesterase inhibitors. The source links these compounds to treatment of "impotence"/erectile dysfunction, and names cardiac stimulant phosphodiesterase inhibitors as a drug class. The chemical class is imidazo[4,5-d]triazin-4-one.
Plain-language scope (from the source): The claims describe a class of 2-phenyl-substituted imidazotriazinone compounds and pharmaceutical uses thereof. The chemistry vocabulary in the excerpt indicates the claimed compounds may bear varied substituents—including alkyl and alkoxy groups, hydroxyl, hydrogen, halogens (fluorine, chlorine), carboxy, alkoxycarbonyl, acyl, formyl, nitro, and sulfonic acid (SO3H) groups—and may incorporate cyclic/heterocyclic rings such as piperidinyl, morpholinyl, pyrrolidinyl, pyridyl, pyrimidinyl, furyl, thiazolyl, triazolyl, tetrahydrofuranyl, and piperazinyl, plus cycloalkyl groups (cyclopropyl through cycloheptyl, adamantyl). Salts and hydrates are also mentioned. The prior-art keywords emphasize carbon atoms, straight chains, and hydroxyl groups.
Family/litigation notes (as listed): The source links related continuation applications (e.g., US10/365,740; US10/923,544; US11/409,417, among others) and several Delaware District Court and Federal Circuit cases.
What this excerpt does not establish: It does not reproduce the actual claim language, full specification, examples, dosages, or synthesis details (text is excerpted/omitted); it does not verify assignee accuracy, legal status, priority, or litigation substance; and it provides no basis for assessing validity, infringement, or novelty over prior art. No independent research was performed.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6362178](/patent/US6362178)/en
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:02:28 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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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
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.