Seattle Genetics: CJEU calls for an AG's Opinion

Our good friend Mike Snodin (Park Grove IP) has spotted that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has indicated that the Advocate-General’s opinion in Case C-471/14 Seattle Genetics will be issued on 10 September 2015.  To remind readers, this is a reference for a preliminary ruling from the Oberlandesgericht Wien (Austria) which was made in October of last year, so it's proceeding fairly swiftly through the CJEU. The questions referred are:

Is the date of the first authorisation to place the product on the market in the Community pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation 469/2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products determined according to Community law or does that provision refer to the date on which the authorisation takes effect under the law of the Member State in question?

If the Court’s answer is that the date referred to in Question 1 is determined by Community law, which date must be taken into account — the date of authorisation or the date of notification?

Mike hypothesises that the call for an Advocate General's opinion must mean that the CJEU does not believe that the answers to the questions posed are either obvious or clearly deducible from existing case-law.

For further information see The SPC Blog's posts here (announcing the reference) and here (flagging an article by Mike Snodin).