Läkemedelspatent : patent på läkemedel i Europa ur ett rättsvetenskapligt och rättsekonomiskt perspektiv

Sammanfattning: The study reviews the legal issues associated with patent protection for pharmaceuticals in Europe. It is explored how manufacturers of innovative drugs can and do use the patent system to protect and defend products of their research. The situation is examined mainly by a detailed analysis of case law from the European Patent Office (EPO), the international body created in 1973 with the signing of the European Patent Convention (EPC). There are, however, aspects of patent law not primarily regulated in the EPC. For example, Supplementary Protection Certificates, which originate from the European Community. Another example is national case law dealing with infringement matters.Pharmaceuticals are chemicals having certain physiological effects. Therefore pharmaceutical patent issues are a special case of chemical patents and of patents in general. In principle the same legal regimes apply as to other inventions. Yet in practice a special, and arguably separate, area of patent law has developed around pharmaceutical and chemical patents. Some of these special considerations find their basis in public policy concerns and in the regulatory framework affecting sale of pharmaceuticals. Others are due to the nature of the chemical field and its special terminology.In separate passages it is endeavoured to show how specific patent law doctrines can be applied in a manner that draws particular attention to economic consequences. The legal situation is interpreted from the viewpoint of the overarching economic rationale for the patent system: promoting economic growth through proper use of the new and improved production opportunities that inventions can give rise to. This thesis can be characterised as a work in Patent Law as well as in the field of Law & Economics.