Originally published as Covington E-Alert on December 10, 2012

On 6 December 2012, the EU Court of Justice dismissed AstraZeneca’s appeal of the General Court’s judgment in AstraZeneca v Commission. The Court of Justice affirmed the reasoning and holdings of the General Court and rejected all of AstraZeneca’s arguments, including its challenge to the General Court’s analysis of the definition of the relevant markets and the findings that AstraZeneca’s IP and regulatory strategies related to its product Losec constituted an abuse of a dominant position in violation of Article 102 TFEU. This judgment, from the EU’s highest court, solidifies the concept of an abuse of IP and regulatory procedures and thus will come as a disappointment to many life science companies.

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