The tangled tale of a pre-TRIPS patent in Spain

PatLit doesn't get to hear much about Spain, so today's note in for International Law Office by Yvonne Sastre of Grau & Angulo was particularly welcome. Her article, "Preliminary Injunction Petition for Alleged Patent Infringement Rejected", discusses a decision last March of the Fourth Commercial Court, Barcelona, to dismiss the petition of Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb for interim injunctive relief against various pharmaceutical laboratories for alleged infringements of the Irbesartan patent. You can read the piece in full here.

In terms of European patent history, it's quite absorbing since the patent goes back to 1991 -- when chemical and pharma patents were not yet available in Spain -- and its history takes in the momentous changes resulting from TRIPS. The patent's post-grant history is even more remarkable, but PatLit won't spoil the story. The interesting thing here is to work out the grounds on which this elderly patent might have deserved preliminary injunctive protection on the facts as provided.