Deadline for appealing Controller's Decision

The 3 month deadline for appealing to the High Court against a decision of the Controller is now calculated from date when he makes his written statement of grounds available (rather than from the date of the decision as previously was the case (section 96).

Repeal of Transitional Provision 4

Under the Patents Act, 1992, the term of patents granted under the Patents Act, 1964, was extended automatically from 16 to 20 years.  As a balancing measure, the patentee's rights were limited during the final two years of this term, ostensibly preventing infringement action from being taken against a person who was making preparations to bring a product onto the market once the patent had actually expired, although this exemption was significantly weakened in the ppharmaceutical field by a caveat stating that it did not apply to acts of importation. 

This measure has now been repealed entirely, and this repeal is no doubt influenced by the earlier introduction of the so-called Bolar provisions, which provide a comprehensive, Europe-wide regime for allowing third parties to prepare for the expiry of a pharmceutical patent by conducting the necessary trials and studies required to obtain marketing authorisation.