Patent duration

Patents may be valid for 10 up to 20 years, depending on the individual country. With a few exceptions the patent duration starts at the time of filing of the application. EPO and OAPI countries as well as most other countries, including Canada, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Czech and Slovak Republics, South Korea and Mexico, offer patent protection for 20 years from the date of filing. Patents in the USA are valid for 17 years after issue. In Japan patent duration is limited to 15 years after issue with a maximum of 20 years between the filing of the application and the end of the patent term. Patent protection in Australia and New Zealand is 16 years from the filing date. 

Patents which are related to pharmaceuticals can provide a significantly shorter effective protection for the resulting products, since a considerable time of the patent life may pass before all conditions for the market approval of pharmaceutical products are fulfilled. For such cases, some countries extend the patent duration of pharmaceutical patents to cover or offset the time which is lost during the registration of the related product. Possible extensions are equivalent to the time required to get market approval but are not meant to compensate for time losses associated with the technical hurdles of product development. 

Extensions of patent duration for pharmaceuticals are available in the following countries ... 

Since the development of the Spansule brand (Smith Kline Beech am) of coated beads and granules in the late 1960s, various dmg product technologies have been developed and patented to achieve extended durations of therapeutic effects. Each of these does so by various mechanisms of control of dmg release from adrninistered dosage forms. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, a discussion of which is available in the pharmaceutical hterature (see Drug delivery systems) (21). 

Dauer, /. duration life (of patents, etc.) period, time durability, permanence. 

LigneU, S., Medicament for improvement of duration of muscle function or treatment of muscle disorders or diseases, AstaCarotene AB, Sweden, US Patent 6245218, 2001. 

Unlike the Court, I do not believe that the possibility that an inventor with a patentable invention will rely on state trade secret law rather than apply for a patent is remote indeed. Ante, at 19. State trade secret law provides substantial protection to the inventor who intends to use or sell the invention himself rather than license it to others, protection which in its unlimited duration is clearly superior to the 17-year monopoly afforded by the patent laws.. . . ... 

Patent protection under general law usually lasts for up to around 20 years. This creates a difficulty in relation to medicinal products, as it can take some 12 years for the products to undergo research, development, the extensive clinical trials that are required in order to obtain a marketing authorisation and the authorisation process itself. These steps are also extremely expensive. The amount of time that remains during which the patent holder can exploit his patent and recoup his massive investment can be severely curtailed in relation to medicinal products. For this reason, the European Community has provided a form of additional patent-related protection for medicinal products authorised within the European Community, by means of a Supplementary Protection Certificate. A patent holder may apply for a certificate that takes effect at the end of the term of the basic patent, for a period equal to the period that elapsed between the date on which the application for the basic patent was lodged and the date of the first authorisation to place a product derived from the patent on the market in the Community, reduced by a period of 5 years. The maximum duration of the certificate is 5 years. The certificate applies to all medicinal products derived from the basic patent, but the additional time that can be obtained under the SPC is calculated in relation to the first product derived from the patent, authorised in the EU. 

The normal duration of a patent is 20 years. In most world jurisdictions, patent protection on pharmaceutical substances is extended, often by up to 5 years. This is to offset the time lost between the patenting date and final approval of the drug for general medical use. 

Once a patent is granted (or issued ) it will remain in force subject to payment of renewal fees. Typically, the duration of a patent is twenty years from the filing date. In general the patent monopoly extends until the expiry of the patent. However, in the European Union and some other European countries, and in the USA and elsewhere, there are provisions for extending the term of protection for a specific approved medical product which is covered by a patent when there have been delays in obtaining regulatory approval. For example, in European Union countries a supplementary protection... 

Patent Life Duration from Filing Date of Validity... 

The fundamental concept underlying patent protection is simple A patent allows its owner to prevent others from making commercial use of the patented invention without the owner s permission. The duration of this exclusive right is in general 20 years from the date of application. In the pharmaceutical field, an extension of up to 5 years is possible in many countries. For example in Europe, such an extension of the term is called a supplemental protection certificate and is granted on request, if the patent protects a medicament that is on the market. A patent is limited to the territory of the state granting said patent. 

An apparent association between severe retinopathy of prematurity and dexamethasone therapy has been shown in a retrospective study (SEDA-20, 372 76). Infants treated with dexamethasone required longer periods of mechanical ventilation (44 versus 26 days), had a longer duration of supplemental oxygen (57 versus 29 days), had a higher incidence of patent ductus arteriosus (28/38 versus 18/52), and required surfactant therapy more often for respiratory distress syndrome (17/38 versus 11/52). Prospective, randomized, controlled studies are needed to correct for differences in severity of cardiorespiratory disease. Until such studies are available, careful consideration must be given to indications, dosage, time of initiation, and duration of treatment with dexamethasone in infants of extremely low birthweight. 

Shell, J.W., J. Louie-Helme, and M. Markey. 2002. Extending the duration of drug release within the stomach during the fed mode. US Patent 6,340,475, 22 January 2002. 

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