Case C-125/10: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 8 December 2011 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundespatentgericht — Germany) — Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation (formerly Merck & Co.) v Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt (Intellectual and industrial property — Patents — Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92 — Article 13 — Supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products — Possibility of granting that certificate where the period that has elapsed between the date of the lodging of the basic patent application and the first marketing authorisation in the European Union is less than five years — Regulation (EC) No 1901/2006 — Article 36 — Extension of the duration of the supplementary protection certificate)
Date: 2011-12-08
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European patent, market approval, medicinal product








C_2012032EN.01000602.xml










4.2.2012   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 32/6





Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 8 December 2011 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundespatentgericht — Germany) — Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation (formerly Merck & Co.) v Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt
(Case C-125/10) (1)

(Intellectual and industrial property - Patents - Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92 - Article 13 - Supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products - Possibility of granting that certificate where the period that has elapsed between the date of the lodging of the basic patent application and the first marketing authorisation in the European Union is less than five years - Regulation (EC) No 1901/2006 - Article 36 - Extension of the duration of the supplementary protection certificate)
2012/C 32/10
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundespatentgericht

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., formerly Merck & Co. Inc.

Defendant: Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Bundespatentgericht — Interpretation of Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products (OJ 2009 L 152, p. 1) — Possibility of granting the certificate if the period of time between the filing of the application for the basic patent and the date of first authorisation for marketing in the Community is shorter than five years

Operative part of the judgment

Article 13 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92 of 18 June 1992 concerning the creation of a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1901/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006, read in conjunction with Article 36 of Regulation No 1901/2006, must be interpreted as meaning that medicinal products can be the object of the grant of a supplementary protection certificate where the period that has elapsed between the date of lodging the basic patent application and the first marketing authorisation in the European Union is less than five years. In such a case, the period of the paediatric extension provided for by the latter regulation starts to run from the date determined by deducting from the patent expiry date the difference between five years and the duration of the period which elapsed between the lodging of the patent application and the grant of the first marketing authorisation.


(1)  OJ C 161, 19.6.2010.