Theory and practice of intellectual property
№ 4 / 2018

ISSN (Print) 2308-0361
ISSN (Online) 2519-2744

PDF (Ukrainian)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33731/42018.159151

Published      2018-07-27

The feature of the design patent for medicinal products (drugs)

Vasylisa Pysieva
Ukraine

Abstract
The article is devoted to an analysis of the use of design patent as an object of industrial property in the pharmaceutical industry, namely for medicinal products. The result of creative human activity in the field of artistic design in medicinal products is reflected in several variants, in particular: in the designer’s external form of the tablet form of a medicinal product; in the form of an injectable drug ampoule; in the form of packaging of the medicinal product. Considering that the pharmaceutical market is, first of all, a socially oriented sphere of economic activity, and also, taking into account that in the vast majority of cases the consumer of such a product is well-informed about the active substance in the corresponding medicinal product and its therapeutic effect, which is offered for sale by several manufacturers, one of the decisive factors influencing the consumer’s choice to buy the particular product is its aesthetic appeal. As practice shows, the success of the sale of a medicinal product is not always due to its novelty or improved efficacy and therapeutic effect, which in theory may be the subject of a legal invention and grant a monopoly right to the manufacture and sale of such a medicinal product. Quite often, well-known drugs, undergoing the so-called rebranding of the manufacturer, receive a new geometric form of release or a design solution that leads to a new stage in the market life of such a drug. In turn, in order to ensure the proper legal protection of the result of creative activity, the object of intellectual property right is traditionally used — a design patent including the medicinal product. In general views the study of an design patent as an object of industrial property, which is used for the legal protection of an artistic solution of a medicinal product, is to determine the legal features of obtaining such a legal protection and its correlation with the state registration procedures necessary for the withdrawal of the medicinal product into the market and establishment of the link ‘s gaining a competitive advantage in the market for homogeneous goods, and additional protection against counterfeiting. In the conditions of high level of competition in the market of pharmaceuticals, regulatory state restrictions are the guarantor of the proper quality of medicinal product and adherence to the rules of advertising for medicinal products, but the main role belongs to mechanisms that provide a monopoly of rights for a certain period of time for the manufacturer and the general attractiveness of the goods, especially in the case of prescription free medicines. Also in this article, the author pays attention to the role of an individualized artistic solution for a drug as an effective counterfeit product.

Keywords: intellectual property, design patent, medicines (drugs), pharmaceutical, patent, individual form, counterfeit product