The UK Government has maintained the SPC system in and for the UK.
An SPC application must be filed at the UKIPO by the later of six months from the grant of the first marketing authorisation (MA) in the UK or six months from the grant of the basic patent.
The regulation of medicines and plant protection products in Northern Ireland is still governed by EU law, whilst the authorisation of products in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) is governed by UK law. This means that there are now three types of MA within the UK, i.e. MAs for the UK, for Great Britain only and for Northern Ireland only. Applicants can file a UK SPC application based on any of these MAs, but where more than one such MA is granted and the SPC application is due to be filed within six months of the grant of the MA (because the MA is granted before the basic patent is granted), it must be filed within six months of the earliest such MA.
This means that there is now a possibility of MAs covering only part of the UK. While SPCs remain UK-wide rights, their territorial extent of protection will extend only to the territory/ies where the MA(s) allow the product to be sold. Once an SPC takes effect, the protection provided will only extend to the territory covered by the MA that the SPC relies on.
It is possible to extend an SPC to cover the additional territory provided that a MA is granted in that additional territory before the SPC takes effect (i.e. before patent expiry) and another application is made within 6 months of the grant of that MA. In other words, to extend the protection to cover an additional territory, the applicant must notify the IPO within 6 months of the grant of the MA for the new territory which must be done before the SPC takes effect.
