Supplementary Protection Certificates - Master Data Center, Inc v The Comptroller
Photo showing intermediate age-related macular degeneration Author US National Eye Institute Source Wikipedia Macular Degeneration Jane Lambert Patents Court (Mr Recorder Campbell) Master Data Center, Inc v Comptroller [2020] EWHC 572 (Pat) (11 March 2020) A supplementary protection certificate ("SPC") is an intellectual property right ("IPR") that protects the active ingredients of a pharmaceutical or plant protection product. The IPR comes into being upon the expiry of a patent for the product. SPCs are granted because new pharmaceutical and plant protection products cannot be marketed unless and until they are found to be safe by the relevant national or European authorities. Evaluating the safety of a new drug or plant protection product can take time. As the maximum term of a patent is 20 years the time waiting for such evaluation reduces the effective term of the monopoly. The purpose of an SPC, as Lord Justice Floyd explained i...