Does the Patent Act contain separate requirements for enablement and written description? Fed. Cir. will decide en banc

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals prevailed at the trial level. Eli Lilly appealed. The Federal Circuit panel handling the appeal reversed, finding some claims of ARIAD's patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,410,516) invalid for lack of written description. Patently-O's writeup with more details is here.

ARIAD asked the Federal Circuit for an en banc rehearing. Yesterday, the Court granted that request, and will decide the following 2 questions:

Whether 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph 1, contains a written description requirement separate from an enablement requirement?

If a separate written description requirement is set forth in the statute, what is the scope and purpose of the requirement?

We'll see what happens.

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Eli Lilly And Co., Case No. 2008-1248 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 21, 2009) (en banc)