Global Insights: Double Patenting

Obtaining multiple patents with overlapping or partially overlapping claim scopes is a common strategy to ensure comprehensive and robust legal protection for an invention. This approach can strengthen protection against infringement, offer flexibility in licensing, and preserve protection if one patent is invalidated. It is particularly important in biotechnology, where inventions often evolve during patent prosecution and new technologies frequently encompass many related inventions.

To achieve this, applicants must navigate the issue of double patenting – the grant of multiple patents covering the same subject matter which is prohibited in most jurisdictions. Here, we aim to provide an overview of how the major pharmaceutical and biotechnology jurisdictions handle double patenting, highlighting differences in allowable overlap in the scope of protection (if any), and the strategic considerations for building resilient global patent portfolios.