As readers know well, over the last few years courts around Europe have handed down several ground-breaking decisions on the scope of “second medical use” claims and, in particular, the activities required of third parties to guarantee the fair protection of such claims. Most of these decisions have revolved around the Lyrica® (pregabalin) patent, which…
On June 17, 2016, the Danish Maritime and Commercial Court rendered judgement in a patent case between AstraZeneca and Teva and Accord regarding the validity of the DK part of EP 0 907 364. The patent-in-suit concerned a new formulation of the already known pharmaceutical substance quetiapine in a sustained release comprising the active substance…
The Board of Appeal held that “Biogen insufficiency”, the situation in which the full extent of the monopoly claimed exceeds the technical contribution to the art, is not a distinct ground for invalidity from “classical insufficiency”. Further, the fact that a skilled person is not able to carry out the invention without using the disclosed…
In February 2014, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. (“MSD”) brought proceedings against Paranova Läkemedel AB (“Paranova”), alleging that Paranova was violating MSD’s right as an exclusive licensee of the European patent EP 0 595 935 (“EP 935”) by taking preparatory measures for parallel importation. MSD applied for a permanent injunction and corrective measures as well…
A former employee inventor’s obligation to sign a declaration of assignment of a patent application to the former employer can be enforced in summary proceedings pursuant to the Swiss Code of Civil Procedure’s provisions regarding “Clear Cases”, under threat of a criminal penalty against the former employee, and even after the termination of the employment…
Increasing the (grounds of the) claim at a late stage of the proceedings in accelerated patent proceedings is contrary to due process of law. The claimed printer cartridge is not novel since no structural (technical) features distinguish the patent from the prior art. A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP…
Arbitration courts (which have mandatory jurisdiction over certain patent disputes regarding generic drugs) have the authority to issue a compulsory fine for not complying with a court order, provided that there is a present or imminent non-compliance with the ordered obligation (‘non facere’). A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP…
Arbitration courts have competence to declare the invalidity of an allegedly infringed patent where the question is raised as an incidental defence. The decision only has inter partes effects. A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.
The U.K. Patents Court has held Warner-Lambert’s second medical use patent regarding the use of pregabalin for the treatment of pain invalid on the ground of insufficiency. Even if the patent were valid, the Court held that Actavis would not have infringed Warner-Lambert’s patent as a result of any “cross-label” use of their product sold…
Although patentability is generally regarded as a question of law per se, the actual technical disclosure of a prior art example was seen as a question of fact and therefore a matter for the first-instance court. The Federal Court of Justice saw itself bound to facts determined by the first-instance court, unless there are specific…
