Latest News & Features
Europe
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ended the uncertainty over the term of supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) by ruling that they begin once a party is notified of a marketing authorisation for a drug. 6 October 2015
Americas
The US Supreme Court has declined to hear manufacturer W L Gore & Associates’s request for clarity on whether US patent law stipulates that patent licensing agreements must be placed in writing. 6 October 2015
Americas
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld a lower court’s ruling that Spectrum Pharmaceuticals’s Fusilev patent is invalid and wasn’t infringed by generics company Sandoz. 5 October 2015
Americas
Law firm Goodwin Procter has promoted five lawyers to partner in the firm’s intellectual property practice, including two life sciences specialists. 5 October 2015
Americas
The US Federal Trade Commission has intervened in a ‘product hopping’ dispute concerning an acne treatment drug. 2 October 2015
Big Pharma
Representatives from the pharmaceutical and engineering industries have said that the decision to opt existing patents into the Unified Patent Court will be a strategic decision done on a case-by-case basis. 2 October 2015
Big Pharma
The UK health secretary has been urged by a health campaigning group to issue a compulsory licence for a breast cancer patent owned by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche. 1 October 2015
Americas
A US presidential hopeful for the Democratic Party has urged the US to support a request that would permanently free poor countries from their responsibility to grant patent protection for drugs. 30 September 2015
Americas
Pharmaceutical company Allergan has survived an attempt by hedge fund Ferrum Ferro Capital to invalidate a patent covering its Combigan drug after the Patent Trial and Appeal Board opted not to institute an inter partes review. 29 September 2015
Asia-Pacific
A Japanese lawyer has described a ruling by the Supreme Court of Japan as a “death sentence” for product-by-process patents and said it is a good time for drugs companies to challenge rivals’ patents. 29 September 2015