Standard Essential Patents and Biosimilars

Here are two recent foreign decisions that may be of interest:

  • Huawei v. ZTE – The European Court of Justice issued a decision on standard essential patents (SEPs) relating to LTE technology and whether seeking an injunction on patents with FRAND terms was an abuse of dominance, stating among other things, “in order to prevent an action for a prohibitory injunction or for the recall of products from being regarded as abusive, the proprietor of an SEP must comply with conditions which seek to ensure a fair balance between the interests concerned.”
  • Amgen v. Sandoz – The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a divided decision on the ‘patent dance’ scheme for biosimilars in the United States holding that Sandoz was not required to disclose its application to the innovator but that notice could not be given until after receiving FDA approval, extending the period of exclusivity.