Key points
- Claim 1 of the patent reads: "Use of 20 myg of ethinyl estradiol and 3 mg of drospirenone for the manufacture of a medicament for female oral contraception comprising a flexible, extended regimen, the regimen comprising: ..."
- Question for trainees: what do you know about the filing date of this patent?
- Surprise: it's no divisional! PCT filed in 2005, PCT entry in 2006, first communication from the examining division: 2012 (!), second in 2014, third in 2015, summons in 2016, intention to grant in 2017, notice of opposition in 2018, decision in 2021, decision in appeal: 2024. Which is within the 20-year patent term.
- Second question: what's (allegedly) wrong with the claim?
- "the question to be answered for determining whether the dosage regimen of claim 1 is limiting is whether the method of female oral contraception comprising the dosage regimen in claim 1 may be regarded as a method of treatment by therapy. This issue was controversial but can be left unanswered since, even if the dosage regimen was limiting, the subject-matter of claim 1 would not involve an inventive step, as outlined in point 2 below."
EPO
The link to the decision can be found after the jump.
