Risks in the agreements between patent holders and generic medicinal product companies
Judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 8 September 2016, Case T-472/13, Lundbeck
CAPSULAS Nº 174
Background This extensive judgment (+120 pages) addresses the ruling adopted by the European Commission in June 2013, which declared that Lundbeck, Merck, Arrow, Alpharma and Ranbaxy had infringed European rules on competition when agreeing that Lundbeck would provide economic compensation to the manufacturers of generic medicinal products for not marketing Citalopram in certain territories during... Read More
Significant recent developments in terms of administrative procedure
Law No. 39/2015, of 1 October, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Authorities comes into force
CAPSULAS Nº 174
On 2 October, Law No. 39/2015, which regulates the common administrative procedure of Public Authorities (LPAC) comes into force. This Law revokes various other laws and regulations. Amongst the foregoing, the most relevant is Law No. 30/1992, on the Legal System applicable to Public Authorities and Common Administrative Procedure. The legislator, on this occasion, has... Read More
Compensation for the sudden termination of an indefinite term exclusive distribution contract
Judgment of the Supreme Court of 19 July 2016
CAPSULAS Nº 174
Background GP Acustics, a German company dedicated to the production of speakers, notified Ear, S.A., its exclusive distributor in Spain, of its unilateral decision to end the 30-year distribution relationship between the parties with just two months’ notice. Said decision was not based on any breach committed by Ear, rather the wish of GP Acustics... Read More
La Administración Pública del siglo XXI
El Global
Este mes de octubre entrarán en vigor la Ley 39/2015, reguladora del procedimiento administrativo común de las Administraciones Públicas (LPAC) y la Ley 40/2015, reguladora del Régimen Jurídico del Sector Público (LRJSP). Dichas leyes derogan diversas normas de rango legal, la más conocida de ellas la Ley 30/1992, de Régimen Jurídico de las Administraciones Públicas... Read More
Cáncer de próstata, incertidumbre y riesgo compartido
EL GLOBAL
Hace unos días, la prensa británica se hizo eco del resultado de un estudio avalado por el NHS del cual resultaría que los tratamientos más agresivos contra los tumores prostáticos (cirugía o radioterapia) no reportan beneficios significativos en términos de supervivencia. Por contra, como es sabido son tratamientos con importantes efectos adversos. No tengo la... Read More
Faus & Moliner at the IBA Annual Conference in Washington, DC
Jordi Faus participated as a co-moderator at the session about providing and paying for healthcare at the Annual Conference of the International Bar Association
At this year’s Annual Conference of the International Bar Association, which was held in Washington the week of 18-23 of September, the Healthcare and Life Sciences Law Committee has organized a Session under the title “Providing and paying for healthcare: public, private or something in between? Obamacare and beyond”. This session saught to explain the goal of... Read More
Acuerdos de fondo en materia sanitaria
EL GLOBAL
En los últimos años nos hemos acostumbrado a que la Sanidad sea una de las áreas en las que en España se producen más conflictos entre administraciones. Uno de esos conflictos lo ha cerrado reciente una sentencia del Tribunal Constitucional que, a raíz de un recurso presentado por el Parlamento de Navarra frente a diferentes... Read More
The “Privacy Shield” comes into force: more protection in the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the US
Commission Decision of 12 July 2016, regarding the suitability of the Privacy Shield between the European Union and the US
CAPSULAS Nº 173
On 6 October 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) annulled Commission Decision 2000/520/EC, on the suitability of the safe harbour principles, known as the “Safe Harbour Agreement”. Previously, it was considered that merely by means of accession to said Agreement, US companies receiving personal data from Europe complied with an appropriate... Read More
An indefinite term distribution agreement may be terminated if the distributor refuses to revise its conditions
Judgment of the Supreme Court of 30 May 2016
CAPSULAS Nº 173
Background In 1996, a beverages manufacturer and a distribution company entered into an exclusive distribution agreement for Spain and Andorra. The conditions of exclusivity applied to both parties, in such a way that the distributor committed to exclusively purchase certain product from the manufacturer for distribution within the referred countries and the manufacturer committed to... Read More
The party having to pay a fee for a licence to use a patent must pay the fee even in the event that such patent is annulled or not infringed
Judgment of the European Court of Justice of 7 July 2016 in Case C-567/14
CAPSULAS Nº 173
Background In 1992, Behringwerke AG and Genentech entered into a licence agreement under which the former granted the latter a non-exclusive worldwide licence to use a specific trigger that increases the efficiency of the cellular process employed to produce proteins. The licensed technology was protected by two US patents and one European patent. As compensation... Read More