On December 06, 2021, the Russian IP Court ruled in favor of the client of «A.Zalesov & Partners» Patent & Law Firm - «Geropharm» LLC, having canceled the decision of Rospatent dated July 28, 2017, on the invalidation action regarding grant of RU patent No. 2564104 for the invention of «Long-acting Insulin Compositions» (patent owner - «SANOFI» Company) and sent the case to Rospatent for reconsideration.
Earlier, our team successfully proved before the Russian IP Court that the disputed patent did not meet the «novelty» and «industrial applicability» requirements. The patent owner appealed the ruling with the Presidium of the Russian IP Court. It is noteworthy that a French attache attended the hearing due to the case significance.
On January 18, 2021, the ruling was invalidated and directed for reconsideration once again, since according to the Presidium, the Court of the first instance had not considered one more ground for the appeal.
Due to its great significance for the circulation of vital medications, prosecuting authorities stepped into the case.
«Geropharm», together with the Attorney General's Office, appealed with the Supreme Court to cancel the decision of the Presidium of the IP Court to send the case for reconsideration due to its illegality and groundlessness. However, the Supreme Court did not transfer the cassation appeal to the Judicial Board for Economic Disputes, referring to the fact that the IP Court would consider all the features of the case during the new examination.
During the hearing of December 06, 2021, «SANOFI» representatives filed a repeated request to postpone the court session due to the absence of an expert who conducted the examination in the framework of the court case, while they had opposed the invitation of this expert earlier. «Geropharm» representatives pointed to this fact, considering this step aimed at delaying the consideration of the case. The Court refused to postpone the hearing and considered the dispute on the merits, having canceled the decision of Rospatent.
The disputed patent can be attributed to the category of so-called secondary patents (sometimes negatively assessed as «evergreening»), which protect patent holders from the competition by extending the monopoly on the market.
Partners of «A. Zalesov & Partners» Aleksey Zalesov and Natalia Samsonova represented the client's interests in Court.
To learn more about the case, please, follow the link.