Apotex Pty Ltd v Sanofi-Aventis Australia Pty Ltd and Ors

The dispute before the High Court of Australia concerned allegations of patent infringement and invalidity. Apotex Pty Ltd (Apotex) was the applicant, and Sanofi-Aventis Australia Pty Ltd and Ors (Sanofi) were the respondents. Sanofi alleged that Apotex had infringed its Australian Patent No 2004201170 (the '170 patent), which claimed a pharmaceutical product. Apotex, in turn, sought to have the '170 patent declared invalid.

The primary legal issues before the High Court were whether the '170 patent was valid, specifically concerning the inventiveness of the claimed invention, and if it was valid, whether Apotex's product infringed that patent. The court was required to consider the requirements of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) regarding novelty and inventive step, and the principles of patent infringement.

The High Court found that the '170 patent was invalid for want of an inventive step. Their Honours applied the established principles for assessing inventiveness, considering the state of the art and whether the claimed invention would have been obvious to a person skilled in the art. Having found the patent invalid, the question of infringement did not arise. The court therefore allowed Apotex's appeal and set aside the orders of the Full Federal Court.