Why you should worry about a patent's priority date
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
In the case of Edwards Lifesciences AG v Cook Biotech Inc earlier this year, the English Patents Court handed down a unique and important decision that determines the priority date that should be given to a patent1. The decision resulted in a loss of priority and the introduction of new prior art that invalidated the patent. This article considers the commercial implications of this decision for pharmaceutical companies.