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INFORMATION FROM THE CONTRACTING / EXTENSION STATES

SE Sweden

Amendments to the Patents Act

The Patents Act1 has been revised with effect from 1 January 1994. The revised Act introduces some important changes:

1. Supplementary protection is made available to medicinal products which are subject to authorisation before entry onto the market. The patent term may be extended by a maximum of five years and confers the same rights as the patent, but only for the active substance or combination of active substances included in the medicinal product (cf. Chapter 13, Sections 105-114). The request for supplementary protection must be made to the Swedish Patent Office within six months of the date of approval of the medicinal product. Renewal fees are payable.

2. The conditions for reinstatement of cases which have lapsed through inadvertence are brought closer into line with those in Article 122 EPC (cf. Section 72).

3. The period for filing a notice of opposition has been changed to nine months from the date of grant of the patent. The grounds for opposition correspond to those in Article 100 EPC. Following opposition the patent may be either maintained in original or amended form or may be revoked.

4. Applications laid open for public inspection before 1 January 1994 remain subject to the previous provisions, with the important exception that all pending applications and granted patents, irrespective of filing date, are now governed by Section 72 concerning reinstatement.