PM(NOC) Invalidity Grounds May Extend Beyond NOA

• Published date: 20 January 2021
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Patent, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Law Firm: Bereskin & Parr LLP
• Author: Ms Melanie Szweras and R. Scott MacKendrick

The Federal Court, in its recent decision Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. v. Taro Pharmaceuticals Inc. (2021 FC 37), allowed amendments to a Statement of Defence in a PM(NOC) action that went beyond the grounds of invalidity set out in the Defendant's Notice of Allegation.

On September 17, 2017, the PM(NOC) Regulations were significantly amended as a part of Canada's implementation of the CETA agreement with the EU, converting what had been a patent linkage application driven regime - litigated like a summary judgment motion - into an action regime - litigated mostly like a conventional patent infringement trial. And under the old application driven regime, the Notice of Allegation defined the issues that could be raised during the PM(NOC) proceeding.

In this motion, the Defendant, Taro Pharmaceuticals, Inc., sought to include in an amended Statement of Defence allegations that were not part of its Notice of Allegation ("NOA"). These allegations were, however, included in the statement of defence in a different PM(NOC) action involving Pharmascience Inc.

The Plaintiffs (Sunovion et al.) argued that the scheme of the PM(NOC) Regulations restricts the invalidity allegations to those that were included in the detailed statement of fact and law in Taro's NOA, as had been the case under the old regime. They further argued that to do otherwise would encourage generics to hide invalidity allegations until after the action is brought, which would necessarily hinder the innovator's ability to assess risks and to assess whether to initiate a proceeding.

In contrast, Taro argued that, under the new regime, the generic is no longer limited to the issues raised in their NOA but, instead, the action is governed by the pleadings alone and the rules that typically apply in regular patent infringement actions.

The Court...