Wednesday Whimsies

IPKat is here with your weekly update of IP news and events! We begin this week with an update on the pemetrexed (Alimta) Italian patent case between Fresenius Kabi and Eli Lilly.

Pemetrexed disodium at the Court of Milan

Last year, IPKat blogged about the Court of Milan's decision in the pemetrexed (Alimta) patent case (Court of Milan, 12 September 2017, urgent proceedings between Fresenius Kabi and Eli Lilly).

That decision has now been fully reversed by a panel of three judges of the same Court of Milan, after having heard the appeal filed by Eli Lilly against the first instance decision. On 15 October 2018, the Court of Milan found that Lilly's patent EP1313508 is infringed by equivalence by Fresenius Kabi's product containing pemetrexed diacid and tromethamine and issued a preliminary injunction against the latter. 

Milan

In short: the decision contains an in-depth legal assessment, from an Italian perspective, of when prosecution history should (or should not) play a role in the court's assessment of equivalence. The decision was rendered in urgent proceedings (second instance). However, it has a special weight as it was drafted by the President of the IP Division of the Court of Milan, who acted both as President of the panel and as Judge Rapporteur in this case.

On the facts, the Court held that the amendments made by Lilly did not restrict the interpretation of the patent’s scope of protection in such a manner as to exclude compounds that are equivalent to pemetrexed disodium. The Court then agreed with the independent panel of experts that the skilled person would treat the disodium as a non-essential part of the invention since the invention was aimed at solving the clinical issue of toxicity by administering vitamin B12 with the pemetrexed anion. The skilled person would understand that the active moiety is the pemetrexed anion and the counterion has no therapeutic or toxic effect. The Court agreed that it would therefore have been obvious to the skilled person to replace pemetrexed disodium with pemetrexed diacid (with tromethamine as in Fresenius Kabi's product) and that Fresenius Kabi's products infringed Lilly's patent by equivalence.

Have you tried Espacenet beta yet? 

The EPO has launched a trial version of its online patent application and patent database Espacenet: "Espacenet beta". The EPO welcomes user feedback. 

Events

ESIMET is an association of companies from Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Romania, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom) and Turkey, for the protection and development of Trademarks, Trade & Business names. This year's ESIMET congress will be held in Thessaloniki on 1 December 2018, and will be on the topic of "The Violation of the Industrial and Intellectual Property on the Internet and in E-Commerce". Further details here. The online registration form can be found here. 

Howard is looking forward to all the IP events!

The UNION-IP Christmas dinner meeting will be held on 4 December 2018 at the Royal Overseas League. Guy Hollingworth of One Essex Court will be speaking. Eminent barrister, mediator and occasional conjurer, Guy will provide an insight into some important soft IP disputes from the last 12 months, and has hinted that he may also perform some topical magic. Full details and tickets can be obtained here.

Don't miss the book launch of "Art and Modern Copyright: The Contested Image" by Dr Elena Cooper (CREATe, University of Glasgow), to be held at the Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, University of London on 5 December 2018. RSVP to elena.cooper@glasgow.ac.uk.

Celebrate EUIPO British Day on 6 December 2018 with an event organised by EUIPO, UKIPO and CITMA. Full details here. 

The Court of Turin is hosting a Seminar plus Mock Trial on 10 December 2018 on the topic of Trade Secrets. The Seminar and the Mock Trial will involve Judges from Turin, Milan, Genoa and Naples together with attorneys and patent agents.

The INTA 2018 Middle East and Africa Conference: Innovation, Investment, and IP  conference will be held on 10-11 December 2018 at Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights Hotel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. See the full program here. 

The UK IPO and EPO are joining forces to host a series of workshops on 13-14 December 2018 about the EPO's online services. Learn about the EPO's online filing system and the second phase of the DOCX filing pilot. Register here.

The University of Notre Dame Law School in London is launching a new lecture series on Intellectual Property Law, open to UK IP practitioners. The first lecture in the series will be held on 23 January 2019 and will cover the topic of Client Interviewing. Register here.

The Managing Trademark Assets Europe 2019 conference will be held in London on 28 January 2019. The conference aims to provide insights and best practice for cost-effectively managing trademark portfolios. For further details and registration, see here.

The CILIP Copyright Conference 2019 will held on 2 April 2019. The full speaker program can be seen here. Details for registration can be found here.

Save the date for Icepops: International Copyright-Literacy Event with Playful Opportunities for Practitioners and Scholars, a one-day event to be held on 26 June 2019 at the South Hall Complex, University of Edinburgh. Booking opens in February 2019. Further details to be found here.

Job opportunity

Nominet, the official registry for UK domain names, is currently seeking new independent experts for their Dispute Resolution Service (DRS). This is a role that takes a relatively small amount of time each year, deciding disputes remotely and based on the DRS Policy and each parties’ submissions. Ideally panellists will have a deep understanding of IP and the Internet, and can objectively and professionally provide reasoned binding decisions on parties in dispute over a web address. See here for further details and to apply.

Author: Rose Hughes