EXPERT VIEW: Utilizing supplementary protection certificates for active ingredients in the pharma industry

Intellectual Property can be vital for the success of any pharmaceutical invention. It is very important to protect your ideas, inventions and creations to prevent them being stolen or copied, writes Lyndsey Richardson, UK and European Patent Attorney with Wynne-Jones IP.

Copyright and unregistered design right (UDR) exist automatically from the date of creation and do not require registration. The term of protection offered by these rights is pre-determined and does not need to be renewed during that time. However, they only protect you against copying. If someone independently comes up with something similar, they may not be infringing your copyright or unregistered design right. In contrast, patents, registered trademarks and registered designs need to be registered for the monopoly right to exist. Someone who comes up with something similar to your registered rights may infringe those rights irrespective of whether they copied from you or not.

It is important to remember that in return for your patent, registered trade mark or registered design right the State expects you to pay for keeping these rights in force by means of renewal fees.  If you do not pay the renewal fees, then the monopoly you have been granted reverts to the public domain. Patent and design rights rely upon novelty. If a patent or a registered design lapses because its renewal fee is not paid, you cannot simply re-apply for the lost monopoly. The new application will lack novelty – it will be “anticipated” by the earlier patent or registered design. With this in mind it is essential that you are ahead of the renewals process. If renewals are missed this can have a serious negative effect on the extent of protection going forwards.