Enforcement, Injunction, Litigation, Patents, Pharma, Pharmaceutical patent, SPC, Switzerland, Validity

(MLL Legal Ltd.)/

In a decision issued this summer, the Swiss Federal Patent Court had the opportunity to comment on the catalogue of grounds for invalidity which can be brought against a Swiss SPC. The Federal Patent Court issued a PI based on Genzyme Corporation’s Swiss SPC for sevelamer, although it was unclear whether the Swiss Institute of…

CJEU, European Union, SPC

, (Vossius & Partner)/ /1 Comment

The SPC system was introduced in the European Union in 1992 to compensate for the heavy penalties imposed on pharmaceutical research due to the curtailment in effective patent term resulting from time-consuming and costly regulatory review. As expressly noted in the Explanatory Memorandum to the original SPC Regulation (COM(90) 101 final-SYN 255), the legislative intent…

Case Law, European Union, Injunction, Litigation, SEP, United Kingdom

(Bristows)/

by Pat Treacy, Sophie Lawrance, Francion Brooks and Helena Connors Yesterday, the Court of Appeal handed down its highly anticipated appeal judgment in Unwired Planet v Huawei. The unanimous judgment dismissed Huawei’s appeal, confirming Mr Justice Birss’ first instance decision in relation to the FRAND licensing of standard-essential patents (“SEPs”). The Court of Appeal considered…

Case Law, CJEU, Pharma, SPC

, (Vossius & Partner)/

Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) used to be granted in the European Union only for novel active ingredients, but not for new therapeutic applications of previously authorized active ingredients. While this practice fundamentally changed as a result of the CJEU’s landmark decision Neurim (C-130/11) of 19 July 2012, the scope of this ruling has given rise…

Amendments, Case Law, EPC, EPO, EPO Decision, Opposition, Procedure

(GJE Intellectual Property)/ /11 Comments

T0969/14 is the latest in a long line of decisions which make it clear that the EPO Boards of appeal will not accept late filed requests which could have been filed in first instance proceedings, whether or not the submission of such requests might be perceived as a procedural abuse. One of the consequences of…

Case Law, Pharma, Pharmaceutical patent, United States of America

(Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory US)/

Concluding that the asserted claims of patents relating to dosing and administration of the drug Copaxone used to treat multiple sclerosis are obvious, the U.S. Court of Appeals the Federal Circuit has affirmed a decision by the federal district court in Delaware invalidating the patents, handing a major victory to generic drug manufacturers. The Federal…

Case Law, EPC, Equivalents, Infringement, Litigation, Priority right, United Kingdom, Validity

(Bristows)/

On 10 October 2018 the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the matter of Icescape Limited v Ice-World International BV & Ors*. Three discrete issues were considered by the Court and, although the decision of the Lord Justices of Appeal ultimately did not change the effect of the first instance judgment, the opinions…

Case Law, China, Disclaimer, Infringement, Procedure, Scope of protection

(Baker & McKenzie), (Baker & McKenzie FenXun (FTZ)), and (ZY Partners)/

In China, a patent owner’s statements made during prosecution or invalidation may give rise to prosecution history estoppel (or prosecution disclaimer), which precludes the patent owner from recapturing subject matter that was relinquished during prosecution or invalidation in subsequent infringement actions. To invoke the doctrine of prosecution disclaimer, such statements must constitute a clear and…