FR - Johnson&Johnson v. Novartis

Johnson&Johnson c.s. v. Novartis, infringement and invalidity proceedings, Tribunal de Grande Instance, Paris, France, 25 March 2009, Docket No. 07/13504, with thanks to Pierre Véron, Véron & Associés

This action is part of the wider (ophthalmic lens) dispute between the same parties in the US, Australia and various European countries (Germany, Britain and Italy).

Although the translation into French replaces a neologism with a periphrasis, this does not lead to the modification of the scope of the patent as claimed in the original version thereof.

The contradiction between the two formulae given in the specification has no impact on the sufficiency of disclosure.

An insufficiency of result does not affect the validity of the patent. At best, this  is insufficient support of the claim by the specification.

The invention in question does not, for the skilled person, appear to derive in an obvious manner from the prior art and must therefore be considered to involve an inventive step. The injunction and destruction measures sought under the conditions set forth in the enacting part of the present decision are confirmed.

Read the judgment (in French) here.

Read the judgment (in English) here.