EPLAW Patent Blog

EU - Commission launches monitoring of pharmaceutical patent settlements

The European Commission just confirmed that it addressed today on the basis of EU antitrust rules, requests for information to certain pharmaceutical companies asking them to submit copies of their patent settlement agreements. "The requests cover patent settlement agreements concluded between originator and generic pharmaceutical companies in the period from 1 July 2008 to 31 December 2009 and relating to the EU/EEA. The Commission is in particular looking at patent settlements where an originator company pays off a generic competitor in return for delayed market entry of a generic drug. This monitoring exercise has been launched in the light of the findings of the competition inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector Inquiry."

Read the complete Commission press release here.

EU - Commission opens antitrust investigation into pharmaceutical company Lundbeck

"The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into the international pharmaceutical undertaking Lundbeck to examine potential breaches of EU rules on restrictive business practices and on the abuse of a dominant market position under Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The Commission in particular intends to investigate unilateral behaviour and agreements by Lundbeck which may hinder the entry of generic citalopram into markets in the European Economic Area. Citalopram, originally developed by Lundbeck, is an anti-depressant drug known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)."

Read the complete press release here.

DE - Standards and FRAND

Infringement proceedings (Standards and FRAND), Mannheim Regional Court, Germany, 27 February 2009, Case No.: 7 O 94/08

The declaration by the owner of a patent vis-à-vis a standardisation organisation to grant a licence to any interested party at conditions which are fair, reasonable and not discriminating is not in rem disposition over the patent, but rather an obligation under the law of obligations in the sense of a pactum de non petendo which is not within the scope of succession protection under § 15 (3) German Patent Act.

Transferring a patent for which such a declaration has been made vis-à-vis the standardisation organisation to a third party without imposing these obligations on the third party does not constitute a breach of Article 81 (1) EC.

Read the judgment (in German) here.