GlaxoSmithKline and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office File a Motion to Dismiss Litigation Over Final Regulations

GlaxoSmithKline and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office File a Motion to Dismiss
Litigation Over Final Regulations

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK)
today announced that it has reached agreement with the United States Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO) to join the USPTO's motion to dismiss its
litigation over Final Regulations published in August 2007 (Triantafyllos
Tafas and SmithKline Beecham Corporation, SmithKline Beecham PLC and Glaxo
Group Limited vs. David J. Kappos and the United States Patent and Trademark
Office). GSK and the USPTO will file a joint motion with the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit to dismiss the litigation and to vacate the
previous decision in this case by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia. The USPTO is withdrawing all regulations under dispute.

"We applaud the Patent and Trademark Office for its leadership in deciding to
withdraw these rules, which we believe would have harmed innovation across all
industries, and specifically would have deprived GSK and other manufacturers
of the patent protection necessary to promote medical research and
innovation," said Sherry Knowles, Senior Vice President and Chief Intellectual
Patent Counsel, GlaxoSmithKline. "We look forward to working with David
Kappos, the recently appointed Director of the USPTO, and others at the Patent
and Trademark Office to ensure a patent law framework which promotes the
investment that is essential to all innovation, and importantly, to
discovering, developing and bringing lifesaving medicines to patients."

In October 2007, GSK filed and was granted a motion to preliminarily enjoin
the PTO from implementing new rules related to patent applications. Those
rules were due to become effective in November 2007. In April 2008, the
district court ruled on the merits of GSK's and co-plaintiff Tafas's challenge
and permanently enjoined the USPTO from implementing them on the basis that
they were substantive in nature and exceeded the USPTO's procedural rulemaking
authority. In March 2009, on appeal, a divided panel of the Federal Circuit
affirmed that judgment in part, and reversed it in part. In July 2009, the
Federal Circuit vacated the divided-panel decision and agreed to hear the
matter en banc.

The withdrawal of the Final Regulations means that the patent system that had
been in place before this litigation will remain in place.

GlaxoSmithKline - one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and
healthcare companies - is committed to improving the quality of human life by
enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further
information please visit www.gsk.com.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
Under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements
or projections made by GSK, including those made in this announcement, are
subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected. Factors that may affect GSK' s operations are
described under 'Risk Factors' in the 'Business Review' in the company' s
Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2008.

SOURCE GlaxoSmithKline

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