Lauren Millward, Solicitor, Browne Jacobson LLP In recent times trade mark law in the UK has developed to comply with the fundamental principles of the EU including the free movement of goods and services within the EU. The decision of the Court of Appeal in the UK in Speciality European Pharma Ltd v Doncaster Pharmaceuticals Group Ltd is important in this respect and relates to parallel importing of pharmaceutical products within the EU. Speciality European Pharma (SEP) sold a drug (tropsium chloride) in the UK, under an exclusive licence. The drug was sold under the trade mark REGURIN in the UK, CERIS in France and URIVESC in Germany. Doncaster, a parallel importer of pharmaceutical drugs had, for many years, imported CERIS from France but over-stickered the box with the name of the drugs’ active ingredient, tropsium chloride. Shortly after expiry of the patent in the drug, generics manufacturers entered the market in the UK. Doncaster, as a parallel importer, could not…
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