Commitments and contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Commitments and Contingencies [Abstract]

Commitments and contingencies

11. Commitments and contingencies:

In March 2012, the Company announced that the New Jersey Federal Court granted a stay of further litigation in the patent infringement lawsuit previously filed by MonoSol Rx, LLC (“MonoSol”) against the Company and its ONSOLIS^® commercial partners. The court ordered that the case would be stayed pending resolution by USPTO of reexamination proceedings and follows the recent rejection by the USPTO of all claims in all three patents asserted by MonoSol against the Company and its commercial partners for ONSOLIS ^®.

In July 2012, a Reexamination Certificate for MonoSol’s ‘292 Patent in its amended form was issued by the USPTO. The USPTO also issued a second Office Action closing prosecution on MonoSol’s ‘588 Patent. The Action rejects all claims as anticipated or obvious for a second time. It also rejects the amended claims proposed by MonoSol as unclear and lacking support. In August 2012, a Reexamination Certificate for MonoSol’s ‘891 Patent in its amended form was issued.

On January 23, 2013, the USPTO issued a Right of Appeal Notice, rejecting all claims of the ‘588 Patent and closing reexamination proceedings. This action confirms that all claims of this patent are also invalid, but unlike ‘292 and ‘891, the USPTO has not found that any amended or narrower claims should be granted. On February 22, 2013, MonoSol filed both a Notice of Appeal to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and a Request for Continuing Examination of the ‘588 Patent. To date the USPTO has taken no further action and all claims of the ‘588 Patent stand rejected (See Part II, Item 1, Legal Proceedings).