Georgetown, Rochester and Loyola Universities v. UKIPO (Case C-422/10).

This case, joined with the reference in Medeva v. UKIPO, is one of the most closely-watched cases in the area of SPCs. It primarily concerns the interpretation of Article 3(b) of the SPC Regulation and was referred to the ECJ by Kitchin J in 2010. It raises the question of whether a marketing authorization to a combination can support a SPC to an individual component of that combination. It also raises issues (mainly arising in the Medeva case) of the interpretation of Article 3(a). The Oral Hearing was held on 12 May 2011 by the ECJ in Luxembourg. The Advocate General is due to deliver her opinion on 13 July 2011. Daniel Alexander QC represented the applicant universities, who have made a series of applications for SPC relating to multi-component vaccines licensed to a major pharmaceutical company.