On 11 November 2011 the IP Chamber of the Court of Rome granted the motion for preliminary injunction requested by Novartis AG and Novartis Farma S.p.A. against Mylan S.p.A. on the basis of Novartis’ Italian valsartan and hydrochlorothiazide SPC, the active ingredients in Novartis’ Co-Diovan medicinal product (which is marketed in Italy as Co-Tareg). The…
A recently published decision of the Court of Turin in the case Merck Sharpe & Dohme versus Sandoz (decision of 7 April 2011), concerning dorzolamide hydrochloride timolol maleate eye drops, provides an interesting interpretation of the Italian rules governing territorial jurisdiction in the case of the infringement of pharmaceutical patents. MS&D sued Sandoz before the…
Italy has recently filed a complaint with the Court of Justice against Council’s decision of 10 March 2011 no. 167 authorising enhanced cooperation under Art. 20 TEU in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection. Spain had already filed one a few weeks before. As is known, negotiations between the Member States on…
In the antitrust case initiated by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) last October (see my posts here and here), Pfizer have offered a number of commitments in order to settle the case and avoid sanctions. These are the following. Firstly, Pfizer will offer an irrevocable and royalty-free license on EP 1225168 to all interested parties…
The Milan Court revoked a patent on the second medical use of a known drug because excerpts of the protocol of the clinical trials aimed at proving efficacy of the second use had been published before the relevant date in a scientific journal. The Court held that the outcome of the trials – which later…
The Court of Turin held that Article 68 (1 bis) of the Italian IP Code, which was introduced by Legislative Decree 131 of 13 August 2010, establishing that ‘Without prejudice to the provision of paragraph 1, companies intending to manufacture pharmaceutical specialties outside patent protection may commence the procedure of registration of the product containing…
By decision of 14 January 2011, the Court of Turin tackled the issue of the patentability of the intermediate, i.e. the chemical product which represents an obligatory passage of the process of synthesis and the structure of which is successively modified to obtain the wanted substance. The case involved Bayer Schering Pharma against Industriale Chimica…
In the framework of preliminary injunction proceedings instituted by AstraZeneca against the Italian subsidiary of Stada, EG S.p.A., by decision of 11 – 14 February 2011, the IP Chamber of the Court of Turin issued an interesting order concerning the application of Art. 68 (1bis) IP Code, according to which “companies intending to manufacture pharmaceutical…
It has been reported by the Italian Generics Association that on 14 March 2011 the European Commission started infringement proceedings against Italy for an alleged breach of Community law related to Art. 68 (1bis) of the Italian IP Code according to which “companies intending to manufacture pharmaceutical specialties outside patent protection may commence the procedure…
As many readers of this blog already know, last October the Italian Antitrust Authority (Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato – AGCM), following a complaint filed by Ratiopharm, started investigations against Pfizer aimed at ascertaining whether Pfizer’s behaviour in the enforcement of its patent rights on the drug Xalatan amounts to abuse of a…
