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

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Uncertainty and disharmony: an overview

In an article, "Uncertainty and Disharmony Plague Patent Term Extensions in Europe" (published today by Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), Andrew Sharples discusses the problems created by insufficiently specific and variously-implemented EU legislation which was intended to harmonise the law and practice relating to patent term extensions. He gives a short overview of the issues currently awaiting decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as the issues surrounding the controversial 'infringement test'.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where does the oft-quoted "the CJEU tends to follow the AG’s opinion in about 80% of cases" statistic come from? Is it true for all cases the CJ hears, or just IP, or even just SPC cases? Quite a few SPC cases have gone against the AG.

Anonymous said...

I think the rate is lower than 80%. MIT has gone against the AG if I'm not wrong. Trstenjak has not been followed in her last case Lovells...The outcome depends as well on the Chamber and very much on the Judge rapporteur...