In Pharmon v Hoechst [1985] ECR 2281; [1985] 3 CMLR 775 a licence of right to make the products in question in the UK was granted, but with a ban on exports written into it. Pharmon nevertheless exported the product to the Netherlands and Hoechst sought an injunction to stop the sale of the drug in that country. The European Court of Justice held that Hoechst had not consented to the manufacture of the product by the compulsory licensee. The exclusive right of first marketing must be protected, therefore the patentee could prevent the marketing of parallel imports in such circumstances. The Advocate General added a proviso which was not adopted by the court that this would be different if the patent holder had expressly or impliedly consented to the grant of a compulsory licence. This might, for example, be the case where there were links between the patent holder and the compulsory licensee such as where they were parent and subsidiary.
Keyword(s):
The Uk
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