Covington Secures Lanham Act Victory for Acorda Therapeutics

Covington Secures Lanham Act Victory for Acorda Therapeutics

October 27, 2014

WASHINGTON, DC, October 27, 2014 —U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres recently granted summary judgment to Acorda Therapeutics in a nearly three-year-old antitrust and false advertising lawsuit brought by Apotex. Covington & Burling represented Acorda.

Apotex alleged that Acorda Therapeutics had engaged in anticompetitive conduct to delay entry of Apotex’s generic Zanaflex Capsules and had violated the Lanham Act in its promotion of Zanaflex Capsules. Although Covington secured dismissal of the antitrust claims in 2013, the court permitted Apotex to pursue its Lanham Act false advertising claim, which sought disgorgement of over $100 million in profits from Acorda Therapeutics. Following extensive fact and expert discovery, Judge Torres dismissed Apotex’s Lanham Act claim as well on October 23, noting that there is no evidence Acorda’s promotional statements were misleading or were likely to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions.

The Covington team representing Acorda Therapeutics included John Nields, Jason Raofield, James Dean, Dave Pinsky and Colin Watson.