Israel Considers Its Patent Laws

Proposals are being considered by Israel's Ministries of Justice and of Industry, Trade and Commerce to change the country's existing patent laws.

Currently, the Patent Registry (part of the Justice Ministry) gives 20-year patent protection on drugs and their production processes. The proposals under consideration would relax the current ban of working on patented substances before the expiry of the 20-year period, thus bringing Israel's patent law into line with other countries, and allow generics to come to the market earlier, both in Israel and overseas.

A year ago, Burroughs Wellcome claimed that Teva had infringed its patent on aciclovir. Teva's defense was that provided that it did not sell any material for commercial purposes, there was no patent infringement, and the Tel Aviv regional court ruled that Teva may continue its R&D program on the drug.