In a series of judgments earlier this month, the General Court of the European Union had again occasion to review patent settlement agreements in the pharmaceutical sector.

The General Court delivered a mixed verdict in that it held that:

1. as a general matter, patent settlement agreements should be encouraged and are pro-competitive;
2. settlement agreements which do not merely end litigation, but also give benefits to generic companies as a form of compensation to refrain from entering the market constitute a restriction by object of competition;
3. in limiting the relevant product market to a single active substance, the European Commission defined that market too narrowly, thus erroneously imputing a dominant position to Servier.

Our case note attached discusses the judgments.