The event on Pharma & Biotech IP & Litigation (21 - 22 February 2008 in Brussels) brought together the experts from the pharmaceutical, innovative as well as generic and law companies to Brussels. This conference pointed out the need of the industry to understand, what are the legal possible steps to facilitate enhanced market exclusivity and protect their profits and good name.
During 2 days, participants had the chance to benchmark their experiences and practices with developing & implementing IP & litigation strategies. For successful operation globally, legal environment, in particular a patent and regulatory uncertainty is becoming a big challenge. Therefore this conference brought together the professionals from across the world (India, US, Japan, Europe), in order to gain first-hand information on strenghtening IP protection worldwide.
The 1st Day started with a block of presentations, that provided an in-depth overview about the IP environment in various European markets. The programme was opened with a presentation, that addressed a very crucial topic of today “The Changing Landscape of European Patent Litigation Post the EU IP Enforcement Directive” (Jean - Christophe Troussel, Partner, Bird & Bird, Belgium). He reviewed “major” European systems and approaches , in particular those in Germany, UK and France, and how the EU IP Enforcement Directive is like and can be expected to impact these systems.
The following case study (Martin Voet, Senior VP Chief IP Counsel, Allergan, USA) contrasted the US vs. EMEA Directives on IP Law for Biosimilars. In particular, he discussed recent patent issues for Generics, for Biologics and the Follow-on Biologics legislation currently pending in the US. He concluded wih contrasting to the EMEA framework for Biosimilars.
The recent US Supreme Court Decisions on Hatch Waxman litigation have been the main focus of a case study presented by Mr. Mark Rachlin, Senior Patent Counsel for Litigation, GSK, USA. He covered the recent developments in US Pharmaceutical Patent Litigation.
The emerging markets – India & China – and their IP environment & the impact on Pharma IP strategies have been presented by 2 excellent speakers (Sandeep Rathod, Matrix Labs, India; Jurgen Hassa, UCB Group, Belgium). Both of them mentioned a lot of practical examples and recent cases, what was highly appreciated by the audience.
Day 1 finished with a roundtable discussion ( moderated by Mr. Leighton Howard, GenericsWeb, UK) on the IP & Litigation situation in CEE markets. As a part of this discussion, Mr. Roman Lapka (Zentiva, Czech Republic) presented a short overview about recent cases in CEE region.
After closing the programme, the discussion has continued in a more informal and relaxed atmosphere at a coctail reception.
The following day was mainly focused on benchmarking the patent prosecution procedures at various Patent Offices. In particular, the participants had the opportunity to listen to the practices at European Patent Office (EPO), Japanese Patent Office (JPO), Indian Patent Office and US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO).
Based on the feedback from the attendees directly in Brussels and after the event, I do believe, that this event provided a great platform for gaining a lot of knowledge and changing the experiences in a highly networking atmosphere.
Dasa Laslopova
Senior Conference Producer – Life Sciences
Jacob Fleming Group
