Patents News

Pharmaceutical products patents granted

After a 130-year prohibition, the Patent Office has granted patents claiming pharmaceutical products. This has occurred as a result of the expiration of the transitional period provided by the TRIPS Agreement, which had allowed Argentina to postpone patent protection for pharmaceutical products.

Patent protection term extended

After a polemical debate at the Courts and by the Argentine legal commentators, the Supreme Court ruled, invoking Article 65.2 of the TRIPS Agreement, that Article 33 of said agreement came into force in Argentina on January 1, 2001. Therefore, all pending patents that had been granted for fifteen years from grant according to the old Patent Law, and were still in force on January 1, 2000, are entitled to the twenty-year term from the filing date. Patents which had already expired by January 1, 2000 will not be granted such extension.

The Supreme Court settled the issue of revalidation patents

After much debate in lower courts, the Supreme Court finally ruled that all revalidation patent applications filed after January 1, 1995 must be rejected. The Supreme Court determined that the entry into force of the TRIPS Agreement abrogated the provisions regarding revalidation patents, which were admitted under the old patent law. In addition, the Supreme Court held that patent applications must be governed by the law that was in force at their filing date. Consequently, any revalidation patent application filed after January 1, 1995 will in all probability be rejected by the Patent Office, and this rejection would be confirmed by the Courts. On the other hand, proceedings of revalidation patent applications filed before such date should continue.