By: Victoria Slind-Flor
Source: http://www.businessweek.com
Johnson & Johnson and Novartis AG are under investigation by the European Union’s antitrust regulator over contracts that may have hampered the sale of generic versions of pain killer Fentanyl in the Netherlands.
The EU authority said it’s probing contractual arrangements between J&J and Novartis that may have had the “object or effect of hindering entry” of the generic drug onto the Dutch market. Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis owns Sandoz, a generic-drugmaker.
“Pharmaceutical companies are already rewarded for their innovation efforts by the patents they are granted,” EU Antitrust Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in an e-mailed statement. “Paying a competitor to stay out of the market is a restriction of competition that the commission will not tolerate.”
Antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are focusing on how settlements between companies that make branded medicines and generics producers might harm consumers. Bayer AG was among drug firms told by EU officials in January to submit details of patent-settlement deals that may be used to delay the sale of generic versions of medicines. Drug developers use various ways to delay generics, the EU said in a 2009 report.
The investigation is related to a contractual agreement J&J had with Sandoz in the Netherlands and is limited to that country, Stefan Gijssels, a spokesman for J&J’s Janssen subsidiary, said in a telephone interview. The company will cooperate fully with authorities, he said.
“It’s important to underline that the commission has not made a finding that Janssen did something wrong in the Netherlands,” Gijssels said. “It’s the start of an investigation.”
“We don’t comment on ongoing procedures,” Eric Althoff, a spokesman for Novartis, said in an e-mail.
EU antitrust regulators are also investigating Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the world’s largest generic drugmaker, and Cephalon Inc. over a 2005 agreement that may have delayed generic versions of Provigil. Teva last week completed its acquisition of Cephalon after agreeing to divest Cephalon’s marketing rights in France for a generic version of narcolepsy drug Provigil.
AstraZeneca Plc last year partly lost an appeal at the EU’s second-highest court over a commission decision that it had misled patent officials and flouted antitrust rules to keep a generic competitor off the market. The London-based company has an appeal pending.
For more patent news, click here.
Trademark
Notre Dame Tells Kansas High School Hands Off Our Leprechaun
The University of Notre Dame has told a Kansas high school to quit using the leprechaun logo associated with its “Fighting Irish” football team, the South Bend Tribune reported.
While the school “appreciates the intended respect that high schools show by desiring to align with Notre Dame,” the South Bend, Indiana-based university will enforce its trademark rights, Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown told the Tribune.
The school has previously enforced its trademark against high schools in El Paso, Texas, and Springfield, Ohio, the newspaper reported.
The high school in Chapman, Kansas, would be permitted to keep the Fighting Irish nickname, while barred from profiting from it, or from using the leprechaun mark, according to the newspaper.
Fake Prada, Nike Merchandise Seized in North Carolina Raid
Prada SpA and Nike Inc. are among the companies whose trademarks were found on counterfeit goods seized in a raid in Shelby, North Carolina, the Shelby Star newspaper reported.
The fake goods were sold openly for about half the price of genuine articles, according to the newspaper.
Three Shelby residents were arrested and charges with felony trademark infringement, according to the Star.
Police officials told the Star that going after trademark infringers was “new to us” and this raid was in response to “the first major crime we’ve addressed” dealing with fake consumer goods.
Louboutin Asks Appeals Court to Bar St. Laurent Red Soles
Christian Louboutin SA has made a court filing arguing that a trial judge in New York erred in failing to bar Yves St. Laurent America from selling red-soled shoes.
In its Oct. 17 brief, the French maker of high-end red- soled shoes told a New York-based appeals court that it disagreed with the trial court’s contention that barring others from using red soles on their shoes would “cast a red cloud over the whole industry.” Louboutin argues that the court failed to understand that the company “does not sell total outfits, only shoes and accessories.”
The French shoe company argued that the trial court “simple ignored its own finding that the Red Outsole Mark has become a strong source identifier and is indeed world famous.”
Louboutin noted in its court filing that the “Keds blue rectangle on the heel, the Burberry plaid, the Gucci stripes all act as trademarks because the consuming public has recognized them as indicators of source.”
The shoe company asked the appeals court to reverse the lower court’s denial of a request to bar the sale of St. Laurent from selling red-soled shoes.
Louboutin’s shoes won a measure of fame when they were worn by members of the cast of the “Sex and the City” television program. The shoes may sell for as much as $3,700 a pair.
The case is Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves St. Laurent America Inc., 11-3303, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (New York). The lower court case is Christian Louboutin SA v. Yves Saint Laurent America Inc., 1:11-02381-VM, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-24/j-j-notre-dame-prada-louboutin-apple-intellectual-property.html
Source: http://www.businessweek.com
Johnson & Johnson and Novartis AG are under investigation by the European Union’s antitrust regulator over contracts that may have hampered the sale of generic versions of pain killer Fentanyl in the Netherlands.
The EU authority said it’s probing contractual arrangements between J&J and Novartis that may have had the “object or effect of hindering entry” of the generic drug onto the Dutch market. Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis owns Sandoz, a generic-drugmaker.
“Pharmaceutical companies are already rewarded for their innovation efforts by the patents they are granted,” EU Antitrust Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in an e-mailed statement. “Paying a competitor to stay out of the market is a restriction of competition that the commission will not tolerate.”
Antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are focusing on how settlements between companies that make branded medicines and generics producers might harm consumers. Bayer AG was among drug firms told by EU officials in January to submit details of patent-settlement deals that may be used to delay the sale of generic versions of medicines. Drug developers use various ways to delay generics, the EU said in a 2009 report.
The investigation is related to a contractual agreement J&J had with Sandoz in the Netherlands and is limited to that country, Stefan Gijssels, a spokesman for J&J’s Janssen subsidiary, said in a telephone interview. The company will cooperate fully with authorities, he said.
“It’s important to underline that the commission has not made a finding that Janssen did something wrong in the Netherlands,” Gijssels said. “It’s the start of an investigation.”
“We don’t comment on ongoing procedures,” Eric Althoff, a spokesman for Novartis, said in an e-mail.
EU antitrust regulators are also investigating Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the world’s largest generic drugmaker, and Cephalon Inc. over a 2005 agreement that may have delayed generic versions of Provigil. Teva last week completed its acquisition of Cephalon after agreeing to divest Cephalon’s marketing rights in France for a generic version of narcolepsy drug Provigil.
AstraZeneca Plc last year partly lost an appeal at the EU’s second-highest court over a commission decision that it had misled patent officials and flouted antitrust rules to keep a generic competitor off the market. The London-based company has an appeal pending.
For more patent news, click here.
Trademark
Notre Dame Tells Kansas High School Hands Off Our Leprechaun
The University of Notre Dame has told a Kansas high school to quit using the leprechaun logo associated with its “Fighting Irish” football team, the South Bend Tribune reported.
While the school “appreciates the intended respect that high schools show by desiring to align with Notre Dame,” the South Bend, Indiana-based university will enforce its trademark rights, Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown told the Tribune.
The school has previously enforced its trademark against high schools in El Paso, Texas, and Springfield, Ohio, the newspaper reported.
The high school in Chapman, Kansas, would be permitted to keep the Fighting Irish nickname, while barred from profiting from it, or from using the leprechaun mark, according to the newspaper.
Fake Prada, Nike Merchandise Seized in North Carolina Raid
Prada SpA and Nike Inc. are among the companies whose trademarks were found on counterfeit goods seized in a raid in Shelby, North Carolina, the Shelby Star newspaper reported.
The fake goods were sold openly for about half the price of genuine articles, according to the newspaper.
Three Shelby residents were arrested and charges with felony trademark infringement, according to the Star.
Police officials told the Star that going after trademark infringers was “new to us” and this raid was in response to “the first major crime we’ve addressed” dealing with fake consumer goods.
Louboutin Asks Appeals Court to Bar St. Laurent Red Soles
Christian Louboutin SA has made a court filing arguing that a trial judge in New York erred in failing to bar Yves St. Laurent America from selling red-soled shoes.
In its Oct. 17 brief, the French maker of high-end red- soled shoes told a New York-based appeals court that it disagreed with the trial court’s contention that barring others from using red soles on their shoes would “cast a red cloud over the whole industry.” Louboutin argues that the court failed to understand that the company “does not sell total outfits, only shoes and accessories.”
The French shoe company argued that the trial court “simple ignored its own finding that the Red Outsole Mark has become a strong source identifier and is indeed world famous.”
Louboutin noted in its court filing that the “Keds blue rectangle on the heel, the Burberry plaid, the Gucci stripes all act as trademarks because the consuming public has recognized them as indicators of source.”
The shoe company asked the appeals court to reverse the lower court’s denial of a request to bar the sale of St. Laurent from selling red-soled shoes.
Louboutin’s shoes won a measure of fame when they were worn by members of the cast of the “Sex and the City” television program. The shoes may sell for as much as $3,700 a pair.
The case is Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves St. Laurent America Inc., 11-3303, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (New York). The lower court case is Christian Louboutin SA v. Yves Saint Laurent America Inc., 1:11-02381-VM, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-24/j-j-notre-dame-prada-louboutin-apple-intellectual-property.html
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