SPCs – Update on Recent Political and Legal Developments

A Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) is a unique intellectual property right for active ingredients of human and veterinary medicinal products requiring marketing authorisation. Its purpose is to compensate patent holders for loss in effective patent term resulting from the time taken to receive such marketing authorisation. SPCs are available in EU/EEA member states, and other European countries including Switzerland and the UK, which (at least for now) broadly follows the legal framework set by EU regulation. This regulation specifies only four basic requirements for grant of an SPC, but each has provoked multiple referrals to the CJEU. The complex and changing interpretation of these requirements can be daunting even for seasoned professionals, and changes associated with Brexit will introduce additional complexity for the UK.

This webinar makes use of the significant experience of J A Kemp’s attorneys in filing and prosecuting SPCs across Europe, and will use case studies to illustrate our tips for preparing your patent portfolio to take maximum advantage of the SPC system and to prepare for any post-Brexit changes.

Topics include:

• Update on recent CJEU judgments, including C-650/17 (Royalty Pharma) and C-673/18 (Santen)
• Update on SPCs in the UK post-Brexit
• Optimising patent claims for SPC purposes
• Choosing the right patent for your SPC applications
• Planning ownership for multiple SPCs
• Third party considerations