The AZ Judgment: A Green Light for Further Action on Pharma and IP

On July 1, 2010, the General Court issued its long awaited judgment in AstraZeneca v Commission, almost five years after AstraZeneca launched its appeal against the EUR 60 million fine imposed on it by the Commission for abuse of dominance in 2005.  The original Commission Decision was ground-breaking. It was the Commission’s first abuse of dominance case in the pharmaceutical (“pharma”) sector, a rare example of a case addressing the interacti