AstraZeneca AB v Apotex Pty Ltd

Intellectual property – Patents – Patents Act 1990 (Cth) – Inventive step – Obviousness – Patent disclosing method of treatment for hypercholesterolemia – Administration of rosuvastatin and its pharmaceutically acceptable salts at low dosage range in claims – Whether invention obvious in light of common general knowledge together with two prior art documents considered separately where another prior art document disclosed alternative compound – Whether prior art documents were ascertained, understood and regarded by person skilled in relevant art as relevant – Whether permissible to use information from other documents to determine relevance of information in prior art document – Use of prior art not within common general knowledge.

Words and phrases – "ascertained, understood and regarded as relevant", "considered separately", "inventive step", "obviousness", "person skilled in the relevant art".

Patents Act 1990 (Cth) – s 7(2), (3), s 18(1)(b).