Prosecution and Maintenance of Patent Rights (a) Ardelyx shall be responsible for the preparation, filing, prosecution (including without limitation conducting any interferences, oppositions, reissue proceedings and reexaminations) and maintenance of the Listed Patents, unless and until Sanofi has exercised the Option to Continue and Ardelyx has received the Continuation Milestone. Ardelyx agrees to prosecute and maintain the Listed Patents in those countries set forth on Exhibit C. A detail of Patent Costs incurred by Ardelyx in prosecuting and maintaining the Listed Patents prior to the Effective Date is set forth on Exhibit B; provided, however, that the costs and expenses set forth on Exhibit B do not include those costs and expenses incurred by Ardelyx in the drafting and filing of the Listed Patents. Ardelyx will bear the [***] of Patent Costs after the Effective Date and prior to Sanofi’s exercise of the Option to Continue. After Ardelyx has paid such amount, Sanofi shall reimburse Ardelyx for any additional Patent Costs incurred by Ardelyx after the Effective Date during the Term until such time as Sanofi exercises the Option to Continue and Ardelyx has received the Continuation Milestone. Ardelyx shall submit invoices to Sanofi at the beginning of each Calendar Quarter, which invoice shall detail the Patent Costs in the previous Calendar Quarter and, if applicable, include all copies of invoices from outside counsel. Sanofi shall pay each invoice within thirty (30) days of its receipt thereof. During the time that Ardelyx is responsible for the prosecution of the Listed Patents, Ardelyx shall provide Sanofi with advance copies of, and a reasonable opportunity to comment upon, proposed patent filings, related prosecution strategies and proposed correspondence with patent officials or other Third Parties relating to any Listed Patents. Ardelyx, in the course of such activities, will consider comments received from Sanofi with respect to such proposed filings, strategies and correspondence in good faith and will not unreasonably reject such comments to the extent such comments could reasonably be deemed to impact Ardelyx Compounds. In any event, Ardelyx will not finally abandon any claims and will not limit any claims that are specific to Ardelyx Compounds without Sanofi’s prior written consent. Ardelyx shall cooperate to assist Sanofi in assuming the prosecution and maintenance of the Listed Patents as provided by Section 8.4(i), including by transferring to Sanofi the patent files associated with such Licensed Products and providing any other information reasonably requested by Sanofi and access to the relevant inventors.
Filing Prosecution and Maintenance of Patent Rights 7.1 Patent Filing, Prosecution and Maintenance.
Prosecution and Maintenance of Patents Licensee shall prosecute and maintain in the Territory, through outside counsel, the patents and patent applications that are set forth in Schedule C. Following the [***] milestone referred to in Section 7.02, however, [***]. Each party shall bear its own costs related to such prosecution and maintenance and shall manage any administrative challenge to [***], including any interference, post-grant review, inter partes review, derivation proceeding, opposition, reexamination, reissue or similar administrative proceeding. Licensee shall manage any such interference, post-grant review, inter partes review, derivation proceeding, opposition, reexamination, reissue or similar administrative proceeding through outside counsel. [***]. Licensee shall keep Merck advised of such prosecution and maintenance of patents and applications set forth in Schedule C and upon the written request of Merck, will provide advance copies of any substantive papers to be filed in connection with such prosecution and maintenance, including such applications, amendments thereto and other related correspondence to and from patent offices.
Filing, Prosecution and Maintenance of Patents RENOVIS agrees to file, prosecute and maintain in the Territory, upon appropriate consultation with MERCK, the RENOVIS Patent Rights licensed to MERCK under this Agreement; provided, however, with respect to Joint Information and Inventions that are not Improvements to RENOVIS Patent Rights or RENOVIS Technology, MERCK shall have the first right to file patent applications for such Joint Information and Inventions. With respect to RENOVIS Information and Inventions, RENOVIS may elect not to file and if so MERCK shall have the right to file patent applications. In such event, RENOVIS shall execute such documents and perform such acts at RENOVIS’ expense as may be reasonably necessary to effect an assignment of such Patent Rights to MERCK in a timely manner to allow MERCK to continue such prosecution or maintenance. In each case, the filing Party shall give the non-filing Party an opportunity to review the text of the application before filing, shall consult with the non-filing Party with respect thereto, and shall supply the non-filing Party with a copy of the application as filed, together with notice of its filing date and serial number. RENOVIS shall keep MERCK advised of the status of the actual and prospective patent filings and upon the request of MERCK, provide advance copies of any papers related to the filing, prosecution and maintenance of such patent filings. RENOVIS shall promptly give notice to MERCK of the grant, lapse, revocation, surrender, invalidation or abandonment of any Patent Rights licensed to MERCK for which RENOVIS is responsible for the filing, prosecution and maintenance. With respect to all filings hereunder, the filing Party shall be responsible for payment of all costs and expenses related to such filings.
Patent Prosecution and Maintenance From and after the date of this Agreement, the provisions of this Section 8 shall control the prosecution of any patent application and maintenance of any patent included within Licensed Patent Rights. TSRI shall (a) direct and control the preparation, filing and prosecution of the United States and foreign patent applications within Licensed Patent Rights (including without limitation any reissues, reexaminations, appeals to appropriate patent offices and/or courts, interferences and foreign oppositions); and (b) maintain the patents issuing therefrom; in each case, using TSRI’s Office of Patent Counsel (“OPC”) or outside patent counsel selected by TSRI and approved by Company in writing, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, and consistent with the requirements of this Section 8.1. The parties shall mutually agree in advance, on a Licensed Patent Right-by-Licensed Patent Right basis, whether TSRI’s OPC or independent counsel will be principally responsible for filing, prosecution and maintenance of a Licensed Patent Right, it being understood that if the parties agree that external patent counsel will be principally responsible, TSRI shall have the right, at its sole discretion, to utilize TSRI’s OPC in addition to (i.e., in support of and to direct) such independent counsel’s patent filing, prosecution and maintenance activities. The reasonable and documented fees and expenses with regard to the preparation, filing and prosecution of patent applications and maintenance of patents (including without limitation inter partes proceedings) included within Licensed Patent Rights (“Patent Costs”) shall be paid as set forth below. Company shall have full rights of consultation with TSRI and such outside patent counsel on all matters relating to Licensed Patent Rights. TSRI shall consult, and shall instruct its counsel to consult, with Company as to the preparation, filing, prosecution and maintenance of the Licensed Patent Rights (including, without limitation, any reissues, reexaminations, appeals to appropriate patent offices and/or courts, interferences and foreign oppositions) reasonably prior to any deadline or action with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office or any foreign patent office, and shall furnish to Company copies of all relevant documents reasonably in advance of such consultation, consider in good faith Company’s comments and suggestions with regard to such preparation, filing, prosecution and/or maintenance (including without limitation any inter partes proceedings) of the patent applications and/or patents within Licensed Patent Rights, and use its reasonable efforts to implement all reasonable and timely requests made by Company; provided, however, that in the event of a disagreement between TSRI and Company on any such patent prosecution or maintenance matters, TSRI shall have final decision-making authority over all such patent matters. Company shall have the right, but not the obligation, to be present at any court or patent office proceedings relating to Licensed Patent Rights. Provided that Company is not in material breach of its obligations under this Agreement, TSRI shall not abandon any patent or patent application within the Licensed Patent Rights without Company’s prior written consent.
Patent Filing Prosecution and Maintenance 7.1 Except as otherwise provided in this Article 7, Licensee agrees to take responsibility for, but to consult with, the PHS in the preparation, filing, prosecution, and maintenance of any and all patent applications or patents included in the Licensed Patent Rights and shall furnish copies of relevant patent-related documents to PHS.
Prosecution of Patent Applications The Party filing a Patent Application will provide the non-filing Party with a copy of any official communication relating to prosecution of the Patent Application within thirty (30) days of transmission of the communication. Each Party will also provide the other Party with the power to inspect and make copies of all documents retained in the applicable Patent Application or Patent file. The Parties agree to consult with each other regarding the prosecution of Patent Applications directed to joint CRADA Subject Inventions. If Collaborator elects to file and prosecute Patent Applications on joint CRADA Subject Inventions, then Collaborator agrees to use the U.S.P.T.O. Customer Number Practice and/or grant PHS a power(s) of attorney (or equivalent) necessary to assure PHS access to its intellectual property rights in these Patent Applications. PHS and Collaborator will cooperate with each other to obtain necessary signatures on Patent Applications, assignments, or other documents.
Joint Patents With respect to any potentially patentable Joint Invention, AstraZeneca shall have the first right, but not the obligation, to prepare patent applications based on such Joint Invention, to file and prosecute (including defense of any oppositions, interferences, reissue proceedings and reexaminations) such patent applications, and to maintain any Joint Patents issuing therefrom, in any jurisdictions throughout the Territory. FibroGen shall have the corresponding first right, but not the obligation, in any jurisdictions outside of the Territory other than China, in respect of which the China Agreement shall govern. If AstraZeneca determines in its sole discretion to abandon, cease prosecution or otherwise not file or maintain any Joint Patent anywhere in the Territory, then AstraZeneca shall provide FibroGen written notice of such determination at least thirty (30) days before any deadline for taking action to avoid abandonment (or other loss of rights) and shall provide FibroGen with the opportunity to prepare, file, prosecute and maintain such Joint Patent. The Party that is responsible for preparing, filing, prosecuting, and maintaining a particular Joint Patent (the “Prosecuting Party”) shall provide the other Party reasonable opportunity to review and comment on such prosecution efforts regarding such Joint Patent, and such other Party shall provide the Prosecuting Party reasonable assistance in such efforts. The Prosecuting Party shall provide the other Party with a copy of all material communications from any patent authority in the applicable jurisdictions regarding the Joint Patent being prosecuted by such Party, and shall provide drafts of any material filings or responses to be made to such patent authorities a reasonable amount of time in advance of submitting such filings or responses. In particular, each Party agrees to provide the other Party with all information necessary or desirable to enable the other Party to comply with the duty of candor/duty of disclosure requirements of any patent authority. Either Party may determine that it is no longer interested in supporting the continued prosecution or maintenance of a particular Joint Patent in a country or jurisdiction, in which case: (i) the disclaiming Party shall, if requested in writing by the other Party, assign its ownership interest in such Joint Patent in such country or jurisdiction to the other Party for no additional consideration; and (ii) if such assignment is effected, any such Joint Patent would thereafter be deemed a FibroGen Patent in the case of assignment to FibroGen, or a AstraZeneca Patent in the case of assignment to AstraZeneca; provided, however, that the disclaiming party would have an immunity from suit under such FibroGen Patent or AstraZeneca Patent, as the case may be, in the applicable country or jurisdiction. In addition, any Joint Patent that becomes a FibroGen Patent pursuant to the preceding sentence shall be excluded from the license granted to AstraZeneca in Section 7.1. Each Party shall bear its own internal costs in respect of the prosecution of Joint Patents. Out-of-pocket costs incurred in respect of the prosecution and maintenance of Joint Patents in the Territory shall be borne equally by AstraZeneca and FibroGen. In the event a Party elects to disclaim its interest in a Joint Patent, the costs incurred with respect to such Patent after the date of such disclaimer shall thereafter be borne exclusively by the other Party, without reimbursement or credit.
Prosecution and Maintenance Each party retains the sole right to protect at its sole discretion the Intellectual Property and Technology owned by such party, including, without limitation, deciding whether to file and prosecute applications to register patents, copyrights and mask work rights included in such Intellectual Property, whether to abandon prosecution of such applications, and whether to discontinue payment of any maintenance or renewal fees with respect to any patents included in such Intellectual Property.
Maintenance of Patents 11 5.5. Prosecution of Patent Application................................. 11 5.6.
