Moscow City Court Rules in Favor of Sojuzpatent's Client – JSC “Schelkovsky vitamin plant”

On June 3, 2005, the Moscow City Court ruled in favor of the client of Sojuzpatent – JSC “Schelkovsky vitamin plant” (plaintiff) in a case against JSC “VEROPHARM” (defendant-one of the largest Russian pharmaceutical companies) to stop further infringement of the Russian patent № 2229291 by producing and selling of R-X-1 drug (anti-alcohol detoxicant).

This case is the first case in Russia when the drug registered with the Ministry of Health is found to be infringing patent rights. The Court has prohibited the future distribution of R-X-1. It is interesting that the defendant has tried to use as defense references for “prior use rights” but his references were rejected since it was proved in the court of law that JSC “VEROPHARM” has had business contacts with the inventors and have been discussed the essence of the invention before the priority date.