EUPillar Almirall SA and and NV Almirall v NV Teva Pharma Belgium - A/10/10194

Summary

The claimants are part of a pharmaceutical group which sells the medicinal product “Estivan”. They argue that the defendant infringes upon one of their European patents by commercialising a rival product, “Teva Ebastine”. They seek an injunction and damages against Teva. The Court notes that infringement proceedings are also pending in Germany, where the Bundespatentgericht handed down a judgment which is currently under appeal before the Bundesgerichtshof. While the jurisdiction of the Belgian courts is not at issue here (the defendant being sued before the Courts of its domicile), the Court does make the following interesting observation: “Such cumulative procedures (possibly including appeals and other legal remedies in each Member State where proceedings are pending) where different national courts are asked to rule on identical claims and counterclaims under identical national components of the same European patent and using identical legislation, is in itself a plea for the urgent and thoughtful creation of a European patent court.”