Although the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (AUPC) cannot be considered Union (EU) Law, it is couched in the wording of EU legal acts seeking to create “unitary patent protection” as part of “enhanced cooperation” between Member States enshrined in Articles 326 et seq. of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union…
When it comes to the judicial enforcement of pharmaceutical patents in Portugal, over the past few decades the general public has been driven to the misconception that the system protects pharmaceutical industry originators’ tactics to delay the market entry of generics. The European Generic Medicines Association (EGA)’s “Patent-related Barriers to Market Entry for Generic Medicines…
The Supreme Court held that the mandatory arbitration court provided for litigation between patent holders and applicants for generic medicines does not have jurisdiction to decide, inter partes and incidenter tantum, the validity of a patent. The right of defence of the generic applicant is not disproportionally restricted because they can challenge the validity of…
The Constitutional Court held that the 30-day period to initiate mandatory arbitration proceedings against applicants for authorization to introduce generic medicines onto the market is a final (or expiration) term. Case date: 10 April 2018 Case number: 187/2018, 41/2017 Court: Constitutional Court of Portugal A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP…
Yesterday, 25 April 2018, AG Wathelet has handed down his opinion in the Teva v Gilead reference (Case C-121/17) suggesting that the question should be answered as follows: “The fact that a substance or combination of substances falls within the scope of protection of the basic patent is a necessary, but not sufficient, requirement for…
The Constitutional Court of Portugal held that mandatory arbitration can invalidate inter partes a pharmaceutical patent where the issue is raised incidenter tantum. Case date: 24 May 2017 Case number: 297/16 Court: Constitutional Court of Portugal A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law
The Court of Intellectual Property has exclusive jurisdiction to revoke patents. The mandatory arbitration court established by Law 62/2011 cannot declare the nullity of a pharmaceutical patent even if the issue is raised merely as a defence and with effects limited to the parties to the proceedings. A full summary of this case has been…
The 30-day period to initiate mandatory arbitration proceedings against apllicants of authorization to introduce generic medicines in the market is an expiration or final term. A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law
The Court of Intellectual Property has exclusive jurisdiction to revoke patents. The mandatory arbitration court established by Law 62/2011 cannot declare the nullity of a pharmaceutical patent even if the issue is raised merely as a defence and with effects limited to the parties to the proceedings. A full summary of this case has been…
Provisional measures, notably the interlocutory injunction provided for by Article 338-I of the Portuguese Code of Industrial Property, do not extend to the provisional protection of a European patent, nor to a national patent the translation of which is not yet published, because there is an insufficent degree of fumus boni iuris as the protection…
