A New Victory for NNDKP in the Field of Supplementary Protection Certificates
Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen successfully represented a major Israeli generic drug producer in obtaining the revocation of the supplementary protection certificate (SPC) issued by the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (SOIT) to the largest Japanese pharmaceutical company.
In this case, the SPC extended the duration of patent protection granted to the Japanese producer, which gave the company the exclusive right to trade, import, manufacture and use candesartan cilexetil, the active substance in a heart failure treatment drug. Granting the SPC to the Japanese producer was equivalent to prohibiting the Israeli company from using the same substance in the same manner.
The Bucharest Court of Appeals dismissed the appeals filed by SOIT and the Japanese company and upheld the initial decision of the Bucharest Trial Court whereby SOIT was ordered to resolve the request for the revocation of the SPC initially granted to it.
The decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeals reinforced the arguments raised by NNDKP, who argued that it is possible to revoke a SPC, even if initially granted by court decision, and that SOIT must issue a decision with respect to this revocation.
“As a result of the issuance of the SPC by SOIT, the decision of the Bucharest Trial Court was enforced and its effects expired, and SOIT was no longer barred with respect to the subsequent revocation request by any executory effect of the initial decision. Furthermore, the Israeli producer was not a party in the proceeding whereby the issuance of the SPC was ordered, and was therefore entitled to challenge the previous court decisions, as the court decision ordering the grant of the SPC does not have power of res judicata upon our client, but only establishes a presumption of truth that can be overturned by evidence “,
declared Sorina Olaru (Cretu), partner in the Dispute Resolution department.
The project involved a multidisciplinary team coordinated by Sorina Olaru (Cretu) and Ana-Maria Baciu (Partner and Head of the Intellectual Property division and Pharma practice), with the assistance of Adina Badarau (Industrial Property Counsel) and Daniela Ghervas (Associate, Dispute Resolution department).
