zur Übersicht

F&E Patent

Schutz von Enantiomeren

Patentability of isolated enantiomers was clarified in the decision "Escalitopram" of the German Federal Supreme court (BGH) on September, 9th, 2009.

The BGH cancelled a decision of the German Patent court considering a patent claiming an isolated enantiomer in view of the state of the art disclosing the racemic mixture as null and void. The BGH stated instead that a single isolated enantiomer can not be considered as disclosed in a prior art describing the racemic mixture, even in the case that according to the structural formula it can be assumed that different enantiomers must exist.

As a further requirement for acknowledging patentability of said isolated enantiomer the BGH stipulated, however, that any method shall be disclosed allowing the skilled person to obtain the enantiomer in isolated form.

Dr. Barbara Engels