Europe's highest court has issued a landmark ruling on the law governing supplementary protection certificates in the EU.
Europe’s highest court has issued a landmark ruling on the law governing supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) in the EU.
SPCs extend the period of monopoly for patentees who experience delays in marketing their patented products owing to the need to obtain regulatory approval. They apply only to patents covering human or veterinary medicines, or plant protection products.
National patent offices have previously granted SPCs only to the first product containing a particular active ingredient that regulators have approved. The term of the combined patent and SPC protection has been capped at 15 years (15 years 6 months in some cases).
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CJEU, SPCs, EU, Neurim, Circadin