Pay-for-delay settlements remain steady in EU
The number of ‘pay-for-delay’ patent settlements in the EU has “stabilised at a low level”, according to the European Commission.
The news comes as part of the Commission's " 8th Report on the monitoring of patent settlements" for January to December 2016, which was published on Friday, March 9.
Between January 1, 2000 and June 30, 2008, ‘pay-for-delay’ settlements accounted for 22% of all patent settlements in the EU. This number fell to 11% in the period between January 2016 and December 2016.
Overall, 107 settlements were reported in 2016. The report highlighted that the number of settlements at the beginning of the monitoring period, which started in 2008, was relatively low.
However, settlements peaked in 2012, reaching 183. Since then, the number of settlements has decreased, although they have remained above the 24 per year average seen between 2000 to 2008.
The number of international non-proprietary names (INNs) that have been the subject of patent settlements experienced a significant increase in 2016, compared to 2000 to 2003.
For the first three years of the millennium, there were fewer than ten INNs that were subject to settlements. This increased to 46 for the 12 months in 2016.
The report was designed to monitor patent settlements between originator and generic companies, with the purpose of understanding the use of this type of agreement in the European Economic Area. It also aims to identify the settlements that delay generic market entry to the “detriment of the European consumer possibly in violation of European competition law”.
The country that reported the largest number of settlements was Portugal, where 55 were reached in the year 2016.
“The number of patent settlements may vary for a variety of reasons, such as the number of medicines losing patent protection, the greater readiness of both parties to settle, a general increase in litigation and disputes leading to a higher number of settlements or the introduction of new legislation,” explained the report.
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