With judgment dated 7 July 2020 (docket no. X ZR 150/18), the German Federal Court of Justice found the German part of Lilly’s patent EP 1 313 508 valid and dismissed the judgment of the German Federal Patent Court which had held in 2018 that Lilly’s patent lacked inventive step.

The reasoned decision is not yet available.

Hexal AG (a Sandoz company) and STADA Arzneimittel AG had filed nullity actions against Lilly’s patent in 2016 and 2017 which were joined by the court. Fresenius Kabi Deutschland GmbH, who had filed their own nullity action after the Federal Patent Court had already held the patent invalid in the STADA and Fresenius Kabi case, had filed an intervention on behalf of the plaintiffs in the appeal proceedings which was admitted by the Federal Court of Justice.

The decision (both in German and in an unofficial English translation) can be read here.

Reported by: Stephan Neuhaus, Hogan Lovells