To Settle or Not To Settle? An Analysis of the Servier Patent Settlement Case and it’s Practical Implications

By Marie Manley & Anne Robert

Since its inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector, the European Commission (“Commission”) has been monitoring patent settlement agreements. It adopted two infringement decisions so far, each of which was appealed and led to a judgment by the General Court (“GC”). The most recent development is the GC’s judgment in the Servier case(Case T-691/14). The GC refuted (i) the Commission’s assessment of the product market definition and hence the dominance ab