Novoseltsev Illya. Implications of missing the newly introduced deadline for supplementary protection application
After new provisions on supplementary protection of rights in inventions came into force, the deadline for submitting an application for supplementary protection was effectively shortened from 19.5 years to 6 months. In the
present case, the patent holder, whose right to supplementary protection arose prior to the amendments, failed to
meet the newly introduced deadline.
This Court establishes that the amendments made to the legislation should not deprive a patent holder of the opportunity to exercise the right to supplementary protection.
The decisive factor is not the event of submitting an application but the moment when the patent holder’s right to supplementary protection arose.
Based on Art. 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the Convention)
and the criteria of ‘a reasonable time period’ defined by the practice of the European Court of Human Rights in applying Art. 6 of the Convention, this Court concludes that the patent holder applied for supplementary protection within a time frame that falls under the concept of ‘a reasonable time period’.
