Yesterday the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) in Brazil has decided that the validity of the patent which guarantees the right of exclusivity of Pfizer Inc. for the manufacture and marketing of Viagra, expires next June 20.
Brazilian law protects the exclusivity of an invention for a period of 20 years. However, the protection of patented products by pipeline system is calculated for the remainder of the original patent - first filing abroad. As the first patent for Viagra was deposited in England, in June 1990, the period of exclusivity expires in June 2010. 
The appeal was brought by the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) against the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region which maintained the validity of the patent until the day June 7, 2011.
Drug giant Pfizer argued that the claim filed in England was not completed and that the registration of the patent was only obtained in June 1991 at the EPO. Yet the pharmaceutical has the right to appeal the ruling before the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the last court of law of the country.
According to local media Viagra is the second most sold drug for erectile dysfunction in Brazil, behind Cialis (tadalafil).
Info here and here.
To follow this patent discussion here and here.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
A late carnival present - the end of Viagra patent
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