ES - Goedecke & Pfizer v. Laboratorios Rubió / Gabapentin / Cassation Appeal

Goedecke Aktiengesellschaft & Pfizer, S.A. v. Laboratorios Rubió, S.A., Supreme Court, Spain, 14 June 2010, Docket No. 1801/2006.

The Supreme Court, by means of a decision dated 14 June 2010, declared the existence of infringement of the patent ES 2063219, owned by Goedecke Aktiengesellschaft (Goedecke) and licensed in Spain to Pfizer, S.A. (Pfizer) in relation to the gabapentin generic drugs intended to be marketed in Spain by Laboratorios Rubió, thus confirming the previous judgment handed down by the Court of Appeals of Barcelona on 17 May 2006.

Goedecke and Pfizer had brought legal actions against Laboratorios Rubió with occasion of the request for and obtaining by this company of an authorization to market in Spain several gabapentin generic drugs. Indeed, the plaintiffs understood that the obtaining of such authorization infringed their rights derived from the aforementioned patent, protecting a method for the stabilization of pharmaceutical compositions comprising cyclic amino acids, one of them being gabapentin. Goedecke and Pfizer had therefore claimed for the patent infringement to be declared, the cease and desist of any exploitation activities over gabapentin compositions having being obtained by implementing the patented process, as well as a compensation for damages suffered.