Always seek the court’s permission before requesting the limitation of the patent outside the judicial proceeding: the tiotropium case
On 9 February 2023 the Supreme Court upheld a Judgment issued by the Barcelona Provincial Court (Section 15th, specializing in intellectual property matters) which confirmed the nullity of a patent as limited in the court proceedings and ruled that another limitation...
read moreThe intersection between competition law and patent law: the fingolimod case
On 20 January 2023, the 15th Section of the Barcelona Provincial Court overturned interim injunctions imposed by Barcelona Commercial Court No. 10 against three pharmaceutical companies seeking to market generic medicines based on the active ingredient fingolimod in...
read moreVidal-Quadras&Ramon has been recognized one more year by the leading directory Chambers and Partners
We are delighted to share that our work has been recognized one more year by the leading directory Chambers and Partners in the 2023 Europe edition:· Miguel Vidal-Quadras Trias de Bes has been ranked Band 2 in the categories "Life sciences: patent litigation" and...
read moreValiant fighting an old shark: a case of claim construction and application of the All Elements Rule
In its recent judgment of 4 November 2022, the Court of Appeal of Barcelona ruled on a case of patent infringement involving motorcycling helmets between the French company Shark and the Spanish company LS2. In its judgment, the appeal Court overturned an infringement...
read moreGreen light to the UPCA: a failure for the European Union
Last Friday 17 February 2023 was a sad day for the EU. Germany decided to ratify a treaty that shatters the hope of one day having an EU patent law. The decision to accept a court promoted by certain lobbies was ratified. A special court that deprives the Court of...
read moreSorafenib case: the alleged legal presumption of validity of the patent admits evidence to the contrary in injunctive relief proceedings
In this brief note we refer to the Order of the Barcelona Provincial Court (15th Section) 59/2022 of 22 April, which confirmed the Order of the Barcelona Commercial Court No. 1 of first instance rejecting precautionary measures in relation to the product sorafenib....
read moreSPC manufacturing waiver: ten essential tips
On 2 July 2022, the SPC manufacturing waiver, approved by EU Regulation 2019/933, came into effect. This regulation is one of the most important initiatives developed in Europe for the pharmaceutical industry that manufactures its products in the European Union. To...
read moreThe extension of protection during the patent examination in infringement proceedings (the Lékué case)
The Judgment of the Barcelona Court of Appeals (15th Section) of 30 March 2022 (ECLI:ES:APB:2022:3220) upholds the appeal against the Judgment handed down by Commercial Court No. 4 of Barcelona in a case for infringement of patent EP 2 193 731 B1 ("EP'731") of the...
read moreHow to face cybersquatting
The problem The World Intellectual Property Organisation detected that there was an increase in Internet crime during the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the greater number of cybersquatting cases. The practice of registering a name as a domain name that is the same as a...
read moreIntellectual Property Fast Action Protocol for the Mobile World Congress 2022
One more year, Barcelona is about to become the world capital of technology thanks to the new edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), that will take place from 28th February to 3rd March 2022.
read moreReformulation of the objective technical problem and plausibility in a patent case in Spain (cinacalcet case)
In this commentary we will refer to the Judgment of the Barcelona Provincial Court (15th Section) 1610/2021 of 27 July (ECLI:ES:APB:2021:8276). We do not intend to provide a critical commentary on the Judgment, but simply to refer to some aspects that we have considered to be of interest in patent matters and, in particular, to the legal analysis of the plausibility of a technical effect on which the inventive step of patent EP 1 203 761 (EP’761) was based. This was the CCP’s basic patent on the product cinacalcet.
read morePreliminary injunction dismissed for sorafenib tosylate
In the Order of 19 July 2021 (ECLI:ES:JMB:2021:2692A) Commercial Court No. 1 of Barcelona dismissed a preliminary injunction request by BAYER against four companies that launched generic medicines containing the active ingredient sorafenib in the form of its tosylate salt on the Spanish market.
read moreEssentiality assessment of SEPs and plans of the Commission
An in depth study on the ongoing Standard Essential Patents (SEP) reform in the frame of the European Commission’s innovation promotion policy supported by a Pilot Study.
read moreMILEY CYRUS trade mark wins: the EU General Court applies neutralisation doctrine
The judgment of 16 June 2021 of the General Court (case T-368/20) has applied, along the lines of the Court of Justice of the European Union ruling in the Messi case (C-449/18 P and C-474/18 P), the neutralisation doctrine. The conflict here concerned the earlier...
read moreEU IP Action Plan and the fight against the infringement of IP rights
Following our comments on the IP Action Plan adopted by the European Commission to improve the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) on November 25, 2020, we discuss through the following lines the proposal for action in the fight against infringements of...
read moreDeclaration of nullity of the SPC on ezetimibe + simvastatin in Spain and lack of jurisdictional conflict
The Commercial Court No. 5 of Barcelona has declared the Supplementary Protection Certificate ("SPC") of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation ("MSD") null and void in a judgment dated 21 April 2021. Background As we reported in our previous article, MSD, along with its...
read moreIntellectual Property Fast Action Protocol for the Mobile World Congress 2021
One more year, Barcelona is about to become the world capital of technology thanks to the new edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), that will take place from the 28th June to the 1st July 2021. Faced with the possibility of conflicts that might arise between the...
read moreOn 25 March 2021 I took part in the Matinal IP & Competencia conference that is held once a month by the Competition and Industrial Property Law Section of the Barcelona Bar Association; this one was called “Legal problems related to the Agreement on a Unified...
read moreON THE DUAL PROTECTION OF PATENTS AND DESIGNS AND COPYRIGHT – THE SAME?
The issue of double protection has traditionally been addressed by giving continuity to the same protection conferred by a registered design under industrial property law but, once expired, under intellectual property law.Our legal system foresees this...
read moreThe confidentiality of the information contained in the administrative file of a fixed-dose combination medicinal product and the need for an opinion on relevance in order to lift such level of protection
In some recent and interesting proceedings, a Central Contentious Administrative Court in Madrid refused to provide further information contained in the administrative files of two pharmaceutical companies (codefendants) and hence the confidential...
read moreVIDAL-QUADRAS & RAMON EXPANDS ITS TEAM AND STRENGTHENS THE TRADEMARK AREA
Vidal-Quadras & Ramon has expanded its team to strengthen its trademark and design area with the aim of becoming a reference as a legal boutique in all fields of intellectual property. Carmenchu Buganza, with a consolidated academic and professional...
read moreEU IP Action Plan: a big plan that should have been better planned? (1)
On 25 November last, the EU released its 'IP Action Plan'. A programme of major objectives for the Union in the coming years. The Roadmap, published on 10 July, opened a public consultation period of less than two months, until 31 August (when the EU...
read moreTRADEMARKS REGISTERED IN BAD FAITH
IntroductionTrademark legislation makes registration in bad faith invalid. The purpose of this measure is to bring the situation back to an earlier state in order to eliminate the effects produced and invalidate the trademark thus registered.The...
read moreMISAPPLICATION OF THE EPO’S PROBLEM-SOLUTION APPROACH AS A GROUND FOR REJECTING A PATENT INVALIDITY CLAIM
BY SONIA SARROCA, NÚRIA COLL AND ORIOL RAMONThe Judgment of the Barcelona Court of Appeal (Section 15) No. 477/2020 of 15 January (ECLI:ES:APB:2020:477) confirmed the validity, already declared in the first instance, of a patent on a pharmaceutical...
read moreEVERGREENING STRATEGIES IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR: SPANISH COURTS REJECT THE CLAIM OF BREACH OF THE RULES ON DATA AND MARKETING EXCLUSIVITY AS AN ACT OF UNFAIR COMPETITION
BY MIGUEL VIDAL-QUADRAS AND RITA REYES In an Order dated 9 December 2019, the Commercial Court No. 7 of Barcelona rejected the preliminary injunctions requested at the end of November 2019 by the originators of a medicinal product in an attempt to prevent...
read moreTHE SPANISH JUDICIARY PREPARES THE RESUMPTION OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN SPAIN. NEW CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Since 14 March 2020, the Spanish state has been in a state of alarm. That same day, all judicial proceedings were suspended, and the General Council for the Judiciary issued the corresponding agreements to implement the suspension. On the same day, as a general...
read moreREESTABLISHING THE SPANISH JUDICIARY: THE NEW NORMAL OF THE ABNORMAL
On Thursday 30 April, Royal Decree Act 16/2020 entered into force. By this law, the Spanish Government has approved the rules for the restoration of the Spanish judiciary system, paralysed on 14 March 2020 (see our previous post of March 17, 2020). At that...
read moreTHE DAR (AUTONOMOUS BREATHING DEVICE) OF GASN2. A CONTRIBUTION FROM OUR INDUSTRY IN THE TREATMENT OF COVID-19
We are pleased to report that in the last weeks we have had the opportunity to participate in advising the company GAS N2ITROGEN, S.L. (GASN2) in relation to the development by this company of the DAR (Autonomous Breathing Device or in Spanish Dispositivo...
read moreLIFTING OF LIMITATIONS ON THE FILING OF COMPLAINTS AND WRITINGS BEFORE THE COURTS
As we reported at the beginning of the current crisis, on 14 March the Spanish Government approved Royal Decree 463/2020, declaring the state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19.On Monday, April 13, 2020, the...
read moreVIDAL-QUADRAS & RAMON AND ITS LAWYERS RANKED IN CHAMBERS EUROPE 2020
Our professional work has been recognised, once again, by the leading directory Chambers & Partners in the fields of Life Sciences and Intellectual Property.Miguel Vidal-Quadras has been ranked Band 2 in the categories “Life Sciences: Patent Litigation” and...
read moreChronicle of the last act in the agony of the UPC Treaty. A promenade by the Prinz-Max-Palais in Karlsruhe
On Friday 20 March, the German Bundesverfassungsgericht, the Federal Constitutional Court, published its Decision of 13 February 2020. This decision states that the Act of Approval to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, which conferred sovereign...
read moreMr. Wonderful does not have its own style
This is the conclusion reached by the Provincial Appeal Court of Alicante in its judgement number 1476/19 on 20 December 2019, which ruled on an appeal lodged by the defendant companies against the judgement of the European Union Trade Mark Court of First...
read moreCOVID-19. Effects of the alarm state declared in Spain
On 14 March, the Spanish Government approved Royal Decree 463/2020, declaring the state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19. The state of alarm affects the entire national territory for a period of 15 days, which...
read moreThe (unsuccessful) challenge of the competence of the civil/commercial courts to decide on the validity of a Supplementary Protection Certificate
The Commercial Court No. 5 of Barcelona has recently needed to uphold that the civil/commercial courts are competent to decide on actions for invalidity of Supplementary Protection Certificates (hereinafter, SPCs). Background Merck Sharp & Dohme...
read moreDANGER IN DELAY (PERICULUM IN MORA) IS STILL A RELEVANT REQUIREMENT IN CERTAIN CASES TO OBTAIN PRELIMINARY INJUNCTIONS IN SPAIN (THREE PI DECISIONS ON FULVESTRANT)
According to the Spanish Civil Procedural Act (CPA), there are two requirements that need to be met in order to obtain preliminary injunctions in the Spanish Courts: danger in delay (periculum in mora) and the presumption of good right (fumus boni iuris)....
read moreBest lawyers selects 3 lawyers of Vidal-Quadras & Ramon in its 2020 Edition
We are pleased to inform you that 3 lawyers in our firm have been recognized as “Best Lawyer”.Miguel Vidal-Quadras, Oriol Ramon and Luis Torrents were selected by their peers for inclusion in the 12th Edition of “The Best Lawyers in Spain” for their work...
read moreProtocol of Action of the Commercial Courts for the Mobile World Congress 2020 approved
One more year, Barcelona is about to become the world capital of technology thanks to the new edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) that will take place from February 24 to 27, 2020. Faced with the possibility of conflicts that might arise between the...
read moreOur contribution to the Treatise Global Patent Litigation: How and Where to Win
We are proud to announce that we have participated in the third edition of the treatise Global Patent Litigation: How and Where to Win. We have had the privilege of writing the chapter of this monumental treatise concerning the Spanish...
read moreNEW, BUT KNOWN, ASSOCIATE / VQR
We are pleased to inform you that, since September this year, our colleague Rita Reyes has joined the firm Vidal-Quadras & Ramon as an associate lawyer. Rita had already worked with the lawyers Luis Torrents, Miguel Vidal-Quadras and Oriol...
read moreInformation about Cookies
It could be useful to review the disclaimer that those responsible for websites show on their home pages to provide information about the use of cookies to Internet users, as a result of the recent judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union...
read moreProbatio Diabolica
Lawyers often use this expression, when a situation where it is virtually impossible to prove a fact or intention need to be faced. However, this does not constitute an impediment to defence, as our legal system provides mechanisms for solving this...
read moreThe drospirenone case: the effects of the ruling of revocation in a legal action prior to the infringement. Judgement of the Provincial High Court of Barcelona.
On 18 December 2018, the Provincial High Court of Barcelona dismissed the appeal filed by Bayer against the judgement of the Court of First Instance, which had in turn dismissed the petition of infringement of two of its patents by several...
read moreImportant judgement ruled on added subject-matter, obviousness and the possibility of amending a patent in the patent office during the revocation proceedings. The Court of Appeal of Barcelona confirms the invalidity of the patent related to capsule materials that contain tiotropium
Spain / May 2019 By virtue of a Judgement dated 29 March 2019, the Court of Appeal of Barcelona upheld the Judgement of 20 February 2017 ruled by the Commercial Court No. 1 of Barcelona that revoked the Spanish part of European patent EP 1 379 220...
read moreTWO LAWYERS OF VIDAL-QUADRAS & RAMON SELECTED BY CHAMBERS & PARTNERS IN 2019 (CHAMBERS GLOBAL AND CHAMBERS EUROPE)
Our professional work has been recognised by the leading directory, Chambers & Partners in the fields of Intellectual Property and Life Sciences.Chambers & Partners has ranked the following lawyers of the firm:Miguel Vidal-Quadras. Band 2 (Chambers...
read moreAmendment of the Spanish Trademark Act due to the transposition of the Directive (EU) 2015/2436
On 21 December 2018, Spanish Royal Decree-Law 23/2018 was approved, transposing Directive (EU) 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2015 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trademarks that partially...
read moreCAMBIOS EN LA LEY DE PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL
La Ley 2/2019, de 1 de marzo, por la que se incorpora a nuestro ordenamiento jurídico la Directiva 2014/26/UE, del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, de 26 de febrero de 2014 y la Directiva (UE) 2017/1564 del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo de 3 de...
read moreSPC MANUFACTURING WAIVER: INITIAL AGREEMENT AMONG THE EU INSTITUTIONS
On February 20, the European Council published the text that will be voted by the JURI Committee of the European Parliament on February 26.The main aspects of the negotiation focused on three points:The application date of the Regulation, that the...
read moreNEW SPANISH ACT ON TRADE SECRETS
On February 20, 2019, Act 1/2019 on Trade Secrets was published. This Act transposes into Spanish law, with a certain delay, Directive 2016/943, of June 8, 2016, on the protection of trade secrets. The Act has 25 articles and modifies the system of...
read morePROTOCOL OF ACTION OF THE COMMERCIAL COURTS FOR THE MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS (MWC)
One more year, Barcelona is about to become the world capital of technology thanks to the new edition of the Mobile World Congress that will take place from February 25 to 28, 2019.In advance of the conflicts that may exist between the companies...
read moreTWO LAWYERS OF VIDAL-QUADRAS & RAMON SELECTED BY BEST LAWYERS IN 2019
Miguel Vidal-Quadras was selected by his peers as a 11th Edition of the Best Lawyers’ "Lawyer of the Year 2019" for his work in Intellectual Property Law in Barcelona. Only a single lawyer in a specific practice area and location is honored with a "Lawyer of the Year"...
read moreVIDAL-QUADRAS & RAMON. NEW IP LAW FIRM
We are pleased and excited to inform you about the newly created law firm, VIDAL-QUADRAS & RAMON, specialised in industrial and intellectual property, antitrust and unfair competition law, along with other matters related thereto.The law firm was founded due to...
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