Israel

We are pleased to share an important legal update regarding a recent ruling obtained by our firm. The Jerusalem District Court handed down a decision in an appeal against the ruling of the Registrar of Patents. The appeal concerned a ruling on costs in an opposition, which was appealed against as being unfounded and extremely excessive. The appeal originally addressed the ruling in its entirety but was then restricted to costs only since the patent had expired in the meantime. In this case, ELI LILLY filed a patent application for its groundbreaking drug, Forteo, for the treatment of osteoporosis, and Teva filed an opposition to the patent. The Israeli Patent Registrar accepted Teva's opposition and awarded legal costs in the amount of 1,837,265 NIS. In the appeal, we argued that the award of costs was excessively high, and the Court ruled in our favor, reducing the costs by nearly 50% to a total of 1,000,000 NIS. This ruling is exceptional, as courts of appeal typically refrain from intervening in rulings of the costs. This decision is a significant precedent, sending a clear message to the Patent Office that costs awarded in patent proceedings cannot exceed the norms applied by the Israeli courts. This ruling is not only a victory for our client but also an important step in ensuring fairness and balance in the awarding of costs in the Israeli Patent Office. It establishes a precedent that could affect similar cases in the future. We take pride in this achievement and remain committed to fighting for our clients' rights. Eli Lilly was represented in this case by Patent Attorney Dr. Kfir Luzzatto, Attorney Oren Mandler, and Patent Attorney Dr. Adina Cohen.