On 15 October 2009, the Supreme Court of Korea dismissed the appeal in the ‘(patent) registration invalidation’ trial that SANOFI-AVENTIS filed against 16 Korean generic drug companies.

The Supreme Court ruled that “the original trial decision stating that ‘the novelty and inventive steps (of the original product) are denied’ is fair and has no misunderstanding of legal principles and (there is) no contravention to judicial precedents”.

This decision of the Supreme Court appears to prevent the “evergreening” strategies of the original drug companies to prolong their patents or their exclusive rights to a drug.

It is predicted that this decision will influence the “Lipitor” trial, among others, which is pending in the appellate court.

A similar case is pending before the Supreme Court in India where NOVARTIS is seeking a declaration that the Chennai High Court’s decision on the patent for anti-cancer drug Glivec is invalid. The appeal was filed at the Supreme Court in December 2007 and the appeal has yet to be concluded.

It is not clear how the Courts in Malaysia will decide on the issue of the “evergreening” of patents in the country. To date there has been no judicial interpretation of this issue in Malaysia.