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

Saturday, 28 October 2017

Swedish Patent and Registration Office appeals to the Swedish Supreme Court on the correction of SPC terms

As previously reported on this blog (here), the Swedish Patent and Market Court of Appeal (PMCA) found that SPCs granted pre-Seattle could be corrected to have the duration calculated based on the notification date rather than the decision date, if applicable. The PMCA found that the Regulation 469/2009 itself did not provide for any legal remedies to correct the term (i.e. Article 17.2 of 1610/96 is not applicable), but that correction could be made under general principles of Swedish national administrative law.

This decision has now been appealed to the Supreme Court by the Swedish Patent and Registration Office. The questions discussed in the appeal relate only to Swedish administrative law and not to the Regulation or other EU law.

The Supreme Court must grant leave to appeal in order to hear the case on the merits. If they do, it will be most interesting to see how they deal with the pending referral in C-492/16 (Incyte).

Many thanks to Hampus Rystedt at Zacco for providing these new developments.

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