HU - Court maintained preliminary injunction after limitation of Patent

Budapest Metropolitan Court, date of the decision: January 3, 2011, delivery date of the decision: January 21, 2011.

History of the case is that in November 2009 the Metropolitan Court banned the Respondent by means of preliminary injunction from distributing its pharmaceutical product upon the request of the Patentee. The patent in suit covers a pharmaceutical composition consisting of a given active ingredient and certain additives defined in the claim. The product of the defendant contains the said active ingredient and among its additives ethanol, which in the Metropolitan Court’s assessment fulfilled the requirements concerning the additives described in the patent. The Metropolitan Court placed the preliminary injunction even though there were pending nullity requests against the patent, with respect to the specialty of the Hungarian patent litigation system, namely the strict separation of infringement and validity questions (bifurcation). The Patentee was obliged to HUF 150 000 000 as security.