As we mentioned at the time, António de Magalhães Cardoso and Paulo Pinheiro took part in a conference in April on the theme of Protecting Industrial Property Rights. The Marketing Farmacêutico magazine reported this conference, organised by Apifarma and VdA, in an article in which it cites the two VdA partners.

António de Magalhães Cardoso is of the view that it is “very difficult to exercise the value of these rights in the time available” and, after explaining the legal procedures applicable to this area, concludes that “if a patent is violated, it is impossible to restore the situation as it was before this violation took place; the injured party even loses out on the exclusivity period as the patent period is not extendable”.

Paulo Pinheiro pointed out that “the removal of administrative barriers to the approval and commercialisation of a medicine should be suspended pending legal decision, whenever a patent holder is able to prove to the entities responsible for conceding the AIM and PVP that the actions in question are designed to lead to the administrative licensing of a commercial activity which would violate the patent”.