Béatrice HOLTZ French and European Patent Attorney LAVOIX   Background Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) are intellectual property rights that serve as an extension to patent rights that protect medicinal (or phytopharmaceutical) products that have been authorised by regulatory authorities. Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 (hereafter the “Regulation”) governs the supplementary protection certificates for medicinal products. As provided in article 5(1) of the Regulation, the SPC confers the same rights as conferred by the basic patent. A derogation to this protection entitles EU-based companies to manufacture a generic or biosimilar version of an SPC-protected medicine during the term of the certificate, if...