Invalidity dossier
US 4873316
Isolation of exogenous recombinant proteins from the milk of transgenic mammals
Current assignee: Pharming Intellectual Property BV
Added 9/23/2026, 9:57:58 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: US4873316A
Title: Isolation of exogenous recombinant proteins from the milk of transgenic mammals
Patent number: US4873316A
Application number: US07/065,994
Inventors: Harry Meade; Nils Lonberg
Original assignee: Biogen Inc (current assignee listed as Pharming Intellectual Property BV)
Priority/filing date: 1987-06-23
Publication (grant) date: 1989-10-10
Legal status (as listed): Expired – Lifetime; anticipated expiration 2007-06-23
Purpose (plain language): The patent concerns making transgenic mammals that produce a desired "exogenous recombinant protein" in their milk, and then isolating that protein from the milk. The prior-art keywords supplied are: milk, protein, recombinant protein, promoter, mammal.
Scope, as far as the supplied text shows: The excerpt establishes that the disclosure relates to (a) a mammal engineered to carry foreign genetic material, (b) expression of a recombinant protein directed to the milk, and (c) recovery/isolation of that protein from milk. It is classified for transgenic animals generally, for vectors/expression systems for animal cells and for producing genetically modified animals, and for milk-protein subject matter including casein (C07K14/4732) and plasminogen activators (C12N9/6456). Classification entries also reference signal sequences/localisation motifs, and exemplary mammals indicated are ovine and murine.
What the excerpt does not establish: The supplied text contains no claims, no written description, no examples, no sequences, and no prior-art citations. Accordingly, this overview cannot state the actual claim scope, the promoter(s) or protein(s) specifically recited, the species used, isolation methodology, or any legal conclusion about validity, infringement, priority entitlement, or the accuracy of the assignee/legal-status listings (the source itself notes these are assumptions, not legal conclusions). Ownership transfers and litigation links appearing in the source are noted but, per the task, are not analyzed here.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US4873316](/patent/US4873316)/en
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:33:53 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
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.