IP Insights: Supplementary Protection Certificates (Podcast)

Read our IP Brochure on supplementary protection certificates.

Today, we will discuss some recent developments regarding Supplementary Protection Certificates or, in short: SPCs. An SPC is a discrete protective right that prolongs the protection conferred by a patent for a medicinal product or a plant protection product for a certain period of time in view of the marketing authorization procedure that these products need to undergo prior to their marketing. SPCs have been hotly debated since their introduction in the 1990s by an EU regulation. Why is that? Because many medicinal products yield their profit only at the end of the patent term and beyond that - which is then subject to protection by an SPC. Many questions, particularly regarding granting requirements were referred, over the years, to the European Court of Justice. Among all, the seemingly simple question of "Is the product which forms the subject matter of the SPC protected by the