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Free keywords:
Health Law; Pharmaceutical Patents; Generic Medicines;
Mandatory Arbitration; Patent Revocation
Abstract:
In order to foster the use of generics and to cut public spending on medicines, new legislation in Portugal has strengthened
the autonomy of administrative procedures in relation to the existence and infringement of industrial property rights and established a mechanism for dispute settlement between patent holders and generic
companies, subjecting them to mandatory arbitration. The scope of jurisdiction of this arbitration tribunal has raised a number of issues, particularly with regard to the validity of patents. This paper provides a survey of legislation and recent case law on this issue and some suggestions for improving the current regulation.
