The theory of exhaustion of rights generally says that in case of introduction of a product (medicine)in the market by the holder of the right or with his consent, the rights are exhausted and generally speaking the holder of right may not restrict any further movement of the product (medicine). After the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union, the market will be extended to all markets of the member states of the European Union. This could result in situations when the holder of the right in one of the member states could not enforce his rights where the product would be introduced on the market in a new member state where the product is not protected by a corresponding patent. For these cases, the Accession Treaty contains a special mechanism of exhaustion of right from patent (or supplementary protection certificate, respectively).Where the pharmaceutical preparation has been protected by patent (supplementary protection certificate)in a current member state and it has not been protected correspondingly in the Czech Republic, the introduction of the pharmaceutical product on the Czech market will not result in exhaustion of rights with effects for the rest of the European market. The patent holder will have the right to be informed about any intended imports of the respective pharmaceutical preparation more than one month before the import takes place. We note that in the Czech Republic, patent protection for pharmaceutical substances is available since 1st January 1991 and supplementary protection certificates are available since 10th May 2000.

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