On 2 March 2011 the Barcelona Court of Appeal handed down a judgment reversing a decision from Commercial Court n.4 of Barcelona, which rejected the patent owners’ ‘lis pendens‘ defence against a revocation action filed by L.A. and others based on lack of inventive step. In its judgment of 2 March 2011, the Court of…
On 2 March 2011, the Court of Appeal of Barcelona (Section 15) handed down a judgment that has helped to clarify the scope of Article 125.2 of the Spanish Patent Act, which had been interpreted in different ways by some Courts of First Instance since its modification in 2001. Article 125.2 establishes that “the judge…
On 2 March 2011 the Barcelona Court of Appeal handed down a judgment reversing a decision from Commercial Court number 4 of Barcelona, which had rejected a “lis pendens” defence pleaded by the owner of patent EP 409.281 against a revocation action filed by L.A. et altri based on lack of inventive step. In its…
According to Article 79.3 of the 1986 Patents Act, patent rights not registered with the Patent Office may not be invoked against third parties. This article has sparked the debate as to whether a non-registered licensee may initiate patent infringement proceedings invoking a license agreement that has not yet been published. In its judgment dated…
One of the topics hotly discussed before the Spanish Commercial Courts over the past month is whether “omnibus” claims included in patents granted under the 1929 Patent Act are enforceable after TRIPS came into force on 1 January 1995. In a recent judgment of 16 December 2010 deciding an appeal against a decision that had…
Do we need a Community Patent? Do we need a European Patent Litigation System? Or does the current fragmented system have a hidden wisdom behind it? Judge for yourself!
On 30 June 2010, the Supreme Court held that the ‘Bolar provision’ introduced by Law 29/2006, which implemented Directive 2004/27 into Spanish law, may not be applied retrospectively. In addition, the Supreme Court revoked the view expressed by the Court of Appeal of Pamplona and other provincial Courts, which had considered that the ‘Bolar provision’…
On 3 August 2007 and 5 December 2007, Commercial Court Number 1 of Barcelona ordered a preliminary injunction preventing the launch of all the generics of a well-known medicament used to treat schizophrenia. Also, for the purpose of maintaining the status quo, the Court ordered for the judgment be notified to the Ministry of Health…
Under Spanish law, when the first generic version of a medicament of reference (i.e. original medicament) is authorized, the setting of the price of the generic triggers the inclusion of the medicament of reference in the so-called “price reference system”, even if the generic is not launched onto the market until the patent protecting the…
One of the strategies used by manufacturers of generic drugs to try to capture the market of the “reference product” when the patent protecting the latter expires is to present the generic as a cheap alternative to the “reference product”. This raises several interesting questions, such as whether or not a generics company, for the…
