Patent decision

BL number

O/163/16

Concerning rights in

EP 2124945 B

Hearing Officer

Mrs S E Chalmers

Decision date

31 March 2016

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Intermune, Inc. v Elkington and Fife LLP

Provisions discussed

Section 74B

Keywords

Opinions and Reviews

Related Decisions

None

Summary

This decision relates to a review of Opinion 10/15. The invention relates to a specific escalating dosage regime to decrease adverse effects associated with pirfenidone (5-methyl-1-phenyl-2-(1H)-pyridone) therapy when used to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The proprietor requested a review on the grounds that the examiner had erred in principle by misapplying the law on inventive step and, on the correct application of the law on inventive step, the Opinion would have found the patent to involve an inventive step.

The Hearing Officer found that the examiner did not reach an opinion in Opinion 10/15 that was clearly wrong. He did, in her view, make an error in taking as his starting point the presumption that a new dosage regime will not be inventive unless there is a clear technical prejudice pointing away from the dosage regime. However, given that the Opinion examiner applied the established Windsurfing 4-step test for inventive step and carried out the required multi-factorial analysis, she did not consider his overall approach amounted to an error in principle. She therefore refused to set aside the Opinion.

Full decision O/163/16 90Kb