Arbitration Court Decides for Schekovsky Zavod

On May 16, 2006, the Moscow Circuit Federal Arbitration Court ruled in favor of JSC “Schekovsky Zavod” (Sojuzpatent's client, plaintiff in the dispute) confirming the previous favorable decisions of the Moscow City Arbitration Court and the Appeal Arbitration Court for Ninth Circuit. The decision confirmed the lack of prior use rights for the defendant ZAO “VEROPHARM” as a defense in the case over the infringement of patent RU 2229291 for the anti alcohol (detoxicant) drug. The practical outcome of the long dispute is the fact that Sojuzpatent's client can manufacture and market their licensed drug ZOREX (a very effective new detoxicant) and successfully forced ZAO “VEROPHARM” to remove from the Russian market the analog drug R-X-1 as violating patent rights.