
Full details of the seminar programme and registration form are available here. Bookings should be made before 31 October 2008, if possible.
A niche blog dedicated to the issues that arise when supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) extend patents beyond their normal life -- and to the respective positions of patent owners, investors, competitors and consumers. The blog also addresses wider issues that may be of interest or use to those involved in the extension of patent rights. You can email The SPC Blog here
"Patented inventions for medicines (pharmaceuticals) and pesticides require federal approval before they can be put on the market (Swissmedic, BVet, BLW). Since it can take up to ten years to finally get federal approval, and the time limit of the patent protection is running, a supplementary certificate of protection can be requested".Curiously, the multilingual nature of the site is not maintained to a uniform standard. The form for requesting a Supplementary Protection Certificate is available only in German and French versions and a notice concerning changes in procedure is available only in German.
* Article 22/A of Act XXXIII of 1995 on the protection of inventions by patents;Again, the site does not appear to carry any explanation as to what exactly an SPC is, why one should need them or what are the reasons for its conditions and limitations.
* Decree No. 19/2005. (IV. 12.) GKM on the Fees for Administrative Services in Industrial Property Procedures before the Hungarian Patent Office;
* Decree No. 26/2004 (II. 26.) Korm. on the rules necessary for the implementation of the European Community Regulations concerning the creation of a supplementary protection for certain products;
* Government Decree 26/2004. (II. 26.)
"This report contains an analysis of the impact of Supplementary Protection Certificates for medicinal products since their introduction in 1993. In particular, it assesses whether SPCs are still "fit for purpose" for the modern pharmaceutical industry. The Report contains a discussion of the aims of the SPC regime for medicinal products. Some of the significant cases for the drug development industry are placed in context, including the recent MIT/Gliadel and Yissum decisions and there is an overview of the new six month paediatric extensions for SPCs. The Report concludes with an assessment of the effect of SPCs on incentives to invest in pharmaceutical R&D".This report, specially prepared for the Institute by Duncan Curley, can be purchased directly from it in one of two formats: as a pdf version at £30 or in hard copy format at £48.
A small number of said SPCs were not yet in force in 2004, when the systemThe SPC blog would be interested in getting a rough estimate of how many SPCs with abnormally long terms are still lurking around in Italy…
reducing the term by 6 months for each calendar year started to be
applied. It remains to be seen for these cases, whether the subtraction of
6 months should count in any case from the year 2004 or from the year when, upon
the patents expiry, the SPC entered into force.