ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: David Gilat and Matan Kovacs, Gilat, Bareket & Co, Reinhold Cohn Group
Gilat, Bareket and Co, Reinhold Cohn Group 26A HaBarzel St. Tel Aviv, 6971037 Israel
Tel: +972 356 720 00 Fax: +972 356 720 30 Email: info@gilatadv.co.il Web: www.rcip.co.il/en/
1. Life Sciences and Pharma/ Biopharma Patent Litigation 1.1 Claimants/Plaintiffs to an Action Infringement An infringement action must involve, on the plaintiff’s side, the patent owner or its exclu - sive licensee; and, on the defendant’s side, the alleged infringer and any party involved in the infringement whose participation is necessary to efficiently decide all issues of the claim. Where a patent is co-owned, each co-owner may file an infringement claim. If the other co- owners (or the exclusive licensee) do not join as plaintiffs, the suing co-owner must name them as defendants. This is also true where a patent owner does not join an exclusive licensee’s claim and vice versa. A patent owner is defined under the Patents Law as “the person registered in the Register as the person to whom a patent was granted or to whom ownership of a patent has passed”; an exclusive licence affords its holder the right to “[exploit the claimed invention] as if it was the owner of the patent” and “prohibits the owner of the patent from exploiting in Israel the invention that is the subject of the patent”.
Revocation Any person may submit a motion for revocation, without being required to show any particular interest. 1.2 Defendants/Other Parties to an Action Under Israeli law, a plaintiff must join to its claim all those parties whose participation is neces - sary to efficiently decide all issues involved in the claim. Where life sciences/pharma cases are concerned, that usually means the manufactur - ers and/or importers of the infringing products (and/or those parties contributing to the alleged infringement). Other parties, such as health maintenance organisations (HMOs), which are known as “sick funds” in Israel, are not sued in practice, despite their involvement in the distri - bution of patented drugs. Doctors who prescribe drugs are not sued and they might be exempted under the rule de minimis non curiat lex or under the so-called private use exemption. 1.3 Preliminary Injunction Proceedings Availability of Preliminary Injunctions and Timing of a Decision A party bringing an infringement claim may move for the issuance of an interlocutory injunction against the alleged infringer, including ex parte.
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