Correction of the formula to calculate the duration of Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs)

Due to some inaccuracies detected in the formula to calculate the duration of Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs), the Portuguese Patent and Trademark Office (INPI) has decided to reevaluate and change the calculation formula.

Further to an ex officio correction of the formula for calculating the SPC duration made by the INPI, the correction of SPC duration dates was published in the Industrial Property Bulletin on July 8, 2013.

Pursuant to the provisions of article 13(1) of the Regulation (EC) No. 469/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 concerning the SPC and also the Regulation (EC) No. 1610/96 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996, the INPI established that the formula to calculate the duration of SPC(s) shall obey the following rules:

1 – The period of time between the Marketing Authorization (MA) date and the application date of the basic patent must be calculated in days;
2 – The period of time between the MA date and the basic patent application date shall take into account leap years, i.e., the actual days of each year;
3 – The duration (in days) obtained in the period of time between the MA date and the basic patent application date shall be added to the expiry date of the basic patent;
4 – The five-year period to be deducted from the expiry date shall not be deducted from the number of days initially obtained from the difference between the MA and the basic patent application, but from the date resulting from the sum of the duration in days with the expiry date of the patent;
5 – Once the five-year period is deducted, if the result corresponds to non-existent days, then the effective date is the last day of that month.

These changes shall be applied ex officio by the INPI to new SPC applications, to pending SPC applications and to SPC(s) that have already been granted.