A niche blog dedicated to the issues that arise when supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) extend patents beyond their normal life -- and to the respective positions of patent owners, investors, competitors and consumers. The blog also addresses wider issues that may be of interest or use to those involved in the extension of patent rights. You can email The SPC Blog here

Monday 22 July 2013

EU trumps Member States over TRIPS

Case C‑414/11, Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd, Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH v DEMO Anonimos Viomikhaniki kai Emporiki Etairia Farmakon, a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union from the Greek Polimeles Protodikio Athinon, resulted in a ruling last week.

While this case does involve an SPC (for levofloxacin hemihydrate, marketed as Tavanic), the reference was not so much about SPCs as about the relationship of EU law and the law of EU Member States to the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The CJEU concluded that TRIPS does not have retrospective effect in EU Member States and that it falls within the exclusive competence of the EU and not the Member States.

To get a swift summary of the decision, you can speed-read through the Curia press release here.


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