Merck & Co Inc v Pacific Pharmaceuticals Ltd - [1990] 2 NZLR 55

Patents — Extensions — Inadequate remuneration — Exceptional case — Diflusinal (sold as Dolobid) — Drug for treating pain was brought effectively on to the market 19 months before expiry of patent — Commissioner of Patents refused patentee's application for extension but, on appeal, High Court Judge granted patentee an extension for eight years — Whether appeal to High Court against decision of Commissioner of Patents was a rehearing — Whether the evidential burden on a patentee seeking an extension was the criminal one — Whether the patentee had been inadequately remunerated for the patent — Whether the case was exceptional so as to justify an extension beyond five years — Whether conditions should have been imposed on extension to protect commercial opponent from proceedings for infringement — Patents Act 1953, s 31. — Appeal from [1987] 1 NZLR 242