The what, why and how of the UK Supreme Court Warner-Lambert decision

We look into the Supreme Court's judgment in Warner-Lambert v Actavis & Others which is expected to be its second far-reaching decision on patent law in less than eighteen months.

The case concerns Warner-Lambert's claim that Actavis would infringe its Swiss-form second medical use patent, for the use of pregabalin in the treatment of pain, and in particular neuropathic pain – by marketing Lecaent under a skinny label that excludes these indications. The validity of the patent being asserted was also challenged and this has raised the fundamental issue of quite how much information a patent needs to disclose for the invention to be held 'plausible'.

Importantly, the Supreme Court is also expected to decide on post-trial patent amendment and abuse of process, as well as validating claim interpretation.

Matthew Royle, Judith Krens, Gisbert Hohagen and Paul England examine what the Supreme Court's judgment rules about these issues and the implications this has for patenting in the life sciences sector.