Hogan Lovells wins €500,000 cost in Eli Lilly patent dispute

Paris partner Dominique Ménard secured a substantial victory for pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly by defending its patent for a chemical compound process against rival company SAS Sandoz.

French law firm Armenguad Guerlain represented the defeated firm, who must now pay the entire €504,000 (£418,000) counsel fees to Hogan Lovells.

The Court of Appeal in Paris confirmed a previous judgement that found the French part of Eli Lilly’s patent shows inventive activity, is sufficiently disclosed and is consequently valid.

Ménard worked with senior associate Stanislas Roux-Vaillard and associate Loïc Lemercier.

Hogan Lovells was technically assisted by Thierry Caen, European patent attorney and partner at Cabinet Santarelli, and Léa-Marie Rougemont, an industrial property consultant.

SAS Sandoz, which had already failed to make its case on first instance and had consequently been ordered to bear all of the counsel costs of Eli Lilly, will therefore not be able to use the patented process.