Close on the heels of the UK high court delivering a mixed verdict on the patent case of cholesterol lowering drug, atorvastastin between Ranbaxy and Pfizer, a Norwegian court has given another mixed ruling.
Ranbaxy said it won a process patent case in Norway, even as the Norwegian court ruled that the company was found to infringe another Pfizer patent in the country covering a particular intermediate compound.
The Norwegian court sided with Ranbaxy by finding non-infringement of one key Pfizer Norwegian Process Patent NO 309,322, the company said in a statement in New Delhi.
Ranbaxy, however, said its atorvastatin product was found to infringe another Pfizer Norwegian patent (Patent NO 177,706), covering a particular intermediate compound.
Two other Lipitor patents (NO 177,566 and NO 180,199) were at issue but were not ruled upon by the court, the statement said.
The Gurgaon-based company said it planned to appeal immediately to the Norwegian Court of Appeals against the latter judgement.
In addition, the company plans to file an invalidity action in the Oslo City Court against the intermediate patent. A claim for invalidity against this intermediate patent had not previously been made by Ranbaxy, it said.
The cholesterol lowering drug atorvastatin is patented by US Pharma giant Pfizer and is marketed under the brand Lipitor. Ranbaxy and Pfizer have been locked in a pitched patent battle in many countries.
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