In Omnipharm Limited v Merial [2013] EWCA Civ 2,
the Court of Appeal of England and Wales (CA) upheld a first
instance decision to revoke one of Merial's patents on grounds
of insufficiency. The CA also dismissed Merial's appeal against
an order to pay 40% of Omnipharm's costs and awarded costs to
Merial in relation to applications made for preserving
Omnipharm's security for costs.
The patents in question were EP 0,881,881 (the '881) and GB
2,317,564 (the '564), which related to "spot-on"
formulations of parasiticide fipronil for protecting animals
against ticks and fleas.
Background
Prior to the action Omnipharm had requested acknowledgements of
non-infringement from Merial in relation to four fipronil spot-on
formulations. No acknowledgements were forthcoming and Omnipharm
commenced proceedings to revoke the patents on grounds of
obviousness and insufficiency and to secure declarations of
non-infringement.
