The “Experimental Use” Defence

COREVALVE INC V EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES [2009] EWHC 6
s60(5)(b) of the UK Patents Act 1977 provides that an act which would otherwise infringe a patent shall not do so if “it is done for experimental purposes relating to the subject-matter of the invention”. This seldom-used defence was pleaded in the recent CoreValve case in the English High Court, and discussed in the Judgment of Mr Peter Prescott QC, delivered this week.

The _Experimental Use_ Defence.PDF (48 KB)