Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2015:165
Date: 2015-03-12
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Eighth Chamber
Subject matter: Intellectual, industrial and commercial property;Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber), 12 March 2015 1. Approximation of laws — Uniform legislation — Industrial and commercial property — Patent right — Supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products — Conditions for granting — A patent protecting a combination of several active ingredients — Marketing authorisation and supplementary protection certificate granted for a medicinal product containing such a combination of active ingredients — Application for a certificate in respect of one of those active ingredients individually protected by that patent — Lawfulness (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 469/2009, Arts 1(b) and (c) and 3(a)) 2. Approximation of laws — Uniform legislation — Industrial and commercial property — Patent right — Supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products — Objective (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 469/2009, Recitals 4, 5, 9 and 10) 3. Approximation of laws — Uniform legislation — Industrial and commercial property — Patent right — Supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products — Conditions for granting — Patent protecting a single innovative active ingredient —Two medicinal products containing in whole or in part that active ingredient placed on the market in succession — Supplementary protection certificate granted for the medicinal product containing only that active ingredient — Application for a second certificate for the medicinal product containing that active ingredient in combination with another substance that is not protected by the patent — Not permissible (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 469/2009, Arts 1(c) and 3(a) and (c)) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 33) 2. See the text of the decision. (see paras 34-36) 3. Article 3(a) and (c) of Regulation No 469/2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products must be interpreted as meaning that, where a basic patent includes a claim to a product comprising an active ingredient which constitutes the sole subject-matter of the invention, for which the holder of that patent has already obtained a supplementary protection certificate, as well as a subsequent claim to a product comprising a combination of that active ingredient and another substance, that provision precludes the holder from obtaining a second supplementary protection certificate for that combination. It cannot be accepted that the holder of a basic patent in force may obtain a new supplementary protection certificate, potentially for a longer period of protection, each time he places on the market in a Member State a medicinal product containing, on the one hand, an active ingredient, protected as such by the holder’s basic patent and constituting the subject-matter of the invention covered by that patent, and, on the other, another substance which does not constitute the subject-matter of the invention covered by the basic patent It follows that, in order for a basic patent to protect as such an active ingredient within the meaning of Articles 1(c) and 3(a) of Regulation No 469/2009, that active ingredient must constitute the subject-matter of the invention covered by that patent. (see paras 37-39, operative part)