The AstraZeneca Competition Case: Patent Strategies Constituting Abuse of Dominance

Bart Goddyn, Legal Counsel, TiGenix through GODDYN BVBA, Belgium

On 6 December 2012, the Court of Justice of the European Union affirmed that AstraZeneca abused its dominant position by engaging in certain intellectual property strategies aimed at protecting its product against generic competition. The judgement provides guidance on when life science companies abuse their dominant position through abuse of intellectual property and regulatory procedures. This article analyses the decision and discusses in particular how AstraZeneca’s patent strategies were caught by Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Bart Goddyn is a legal counsel with several years of experience as an attorney in international law practices, as in-house counsel and as legal consultant to international companies. Bart is a Belgian-qualified attorney, with a Master of Law degree from the University of Leuven (KUL), an LL.M. in Intellectual Property law from the University of Brussels (KUB) and an LL.M. in Competition Law and Economics from the Brussels School of Competition (BSC). Bart focuses on transactional and advisory work and has particular legal expertise in intellectual property, ICT, media, antitrust, litigation management and compliance. His practice cuts across all fields of technology, including Pharma, Life Sciences, Health Care, Food and Nutrition, ICT, Media, Manufacturing and Industrial Services and Financial Institutions. Bart was Intellectual Property lawyer EMEA at Cargill and legal consultant for Johnson & Johnson. He is currently a legal consultant to TiGenix, a leading European cell therapy company, where he covers the broad range of legal matters relevant to the bio-tech industry. Bart is an official arbitrator at the Czech Arbitration Court in Prague and he lectures on Media and Intellectual Property law at the Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB).

TiGenix NV (NYSE Euronext: TIG) is a leading European cell therapy company with a commercial product and a strong clinical stage pipeline of adult stem cell programs.