International Update

The World Health Organization (WHO) gives pharmaceutical substances international non-proprietary names (INNs) so that each substance can be identified by a distinct name. However, pharmaceutical trade marks cannot be composed entirely of INNs.

The rulings of the Court of Cassation (the CoC) indicate that while pharmaceutical trade marks can be derived from INNs, they cannot consist solely of these names.

For instance, an action was filed claiming that the defendant's trade marks which include the terms CEFITEN and SEFITEN, should be invalidated because they are not unique and directly descriptive for the INN, and the plaintiff invented the CEFDITOREN molecule, which is recognized by the WHO as an INN. The IP Court dismissed the action, ruling that trade marks derived from INNs can be registered even if they lack distinctiveness. The IP Court's decision was upheld by the CoC in a decision dated 15 December 2015.