SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Håkan Borgenhäll, Malin Malm Waerme, Åsa Hellstadius and Arvid Axelryd, Advokatfirman Vinge KB
1.5 Rights and Obligations of Owners of Intellectual Property Rights Patents The exclusive right of a patent is set forth in stat- utory law and allows the holder, inter alia, to stop others from using the protected invention com- mercially. The patentee may obtain an injunction, under penalty of a fine, against an infringer or anybody who participates in the infringement. In order to stop an ongoing infringement, it is also possible to apply for an interim injunction. A patentee can also apply for other measures, such as an order to provide information regard- ing the origin and distribution network of the infringing goods. The patentee is entitled to reasonable compensation for infringed use and damages caused by the infringement. The dif- ferent options made available to the patentee in the Swedish Patents Act are based mainly on EU Directive 2004/48 on the enforcement of intel- lectual property rights (IPRED). The scope of the exclusive right conferred by patent protection also includes the right to assign, license or pledge the patent. There is no obligation to make use of the inven- tion, although a court may, under certain circum- stances, grant a compulsory licence to a third party if it is not used. A patentee is obliged to pay annual fees in order to maintain the patent. The annual fee increases each year the patent is maintained, and ranges between SEK1,500 and SEK8,800. This obliga- tion also applies during the application proce- dure. There are no public information listings of certain products or processes which are protected by a patent in Sweden.
Trade Secrets Trade secret protection arises automatically (see 1.1 Types of Intellectual Property Rights ). Therefore, the owner of a trade secret is not obliged to pay any fees. Protection conferred by a trade secret includes protection against differ- ent kinds of misappropriation; eg, when secret information is obtained, exploited or disclosed without permission. Misappropriation of a trade secret may result in an injunction and entitle the holder of the trade secret to damages. 1.6 Further Protection After Lapse of the Maximum Term A patent can be maintained for a maximum term of 20 years from the application date. However, medicinal and plant protection products can be granted a Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) in accordance with EC Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 concerning the supplementary protec- tion certificate for medicinal products (the “SPC Regulation”). According to the SPC Regulation, the term of protection is extended to a maxi- mum of an additional five years. Medical prod- ucts authorised for the treatment of children may be granted an additional protection term of six months (five and a half years in total). The SPC application has to be filed with the PRV within six months from the first marketing authorisation. The patentee has to pay an appli- cation fee as well as annual fees, and a deci- sion to grant an SPC can be challenged by third parties. A decision to deny an application for an SPC can be appealed to the Patent and Market Court. 1.7 Third-Party Rights to Participate in Grant Proceedings Third-party observations can be filed during the application procedure. An observation may refer to any aspect that affects the decision on wheth-
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