8.3 Discussion
199 It is not in dispute that in order to be the exclusive licensee the licence must confer on the exclusive licensee all of the rights to exploit the patent in the patent area to the exclusion of all other persons including the patentee and that these rights include the right to authorise another person to exploit the invention: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co v Apotex Pty Ltd [2015] FCAFC 2; (2015) 228 FCR 1 at [103]-[105].
200 It is also the case, as Sandoz submitted, that there may be cases in which the manner in which the exclusive licensee may exercise its plenary rights is regulated by agreement and cases in which a purported plenary right of an exclusive licensee is not, taking into account all relevant provisions of applicable agreements, not such a plenary right at all (see, for example, Actavis v Orion at [234]). In the latter case, the necessary conclusion is that the purported exclusive licensee is not the exclusive licensee. As Sandoz also noted, in Actavis v Orion the unilateral character of the subsequent inconsistent rights granted by the patentee was crucial. Thus, at [232], the Full Court said:
The existence of what might be conflicting rights conferred by Orion [the patentee] on another in respect of the supply of a generic product in an agreement post-dating the 2014 licence cannot change the effect of that licence. There has been no variation of the 2014 licence; and there is no reason to give the 2014 licence a scope that is more limited than its language bears, because of later conduct of one party to it involving a third party.
201 It is also not in dispute that, if the 26 September 2005 agreement is considered in isolation, it does (Lundbeck's case) or purports to (Sandoz's case) vest in Lundbeck AU all of the rights to exploit the 144 patent in the patent area to the exclusion of all including the patentee. In that agreement Lundbeck A/S as licensor, by cl 2, grants to Lundbeck AU as licensee "the right to Exploit the invention the subject of the Patent throughout the Patent Area to the exclusion of the Licensor and all other persons, subject to the provisions of this Deed". In the agreement Exploit and Patent Area are defined to have the meaning given in Sch 1 to the Patents Act, and Patent is defined as the 144 patent. By cl 3 the licence continues until termination under cl 4(a), which provides that Lundbeck A/S may terminate the Deed for any reason on giving 30 days' notice in writing. By cl 6, Lundbeck AU may not assign or sub-licence the rights under the agreement to a third party.
202 I accept Lundbeck's submission that the 26 September 2005 agreement, on its face, constitutes Lundbeck AU as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. To resolve the arguments of Sandoz that the 2005 agreement does not reflect all legal rights between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU or that those rights were subsequently varied, it is necessary to consider the other agreements on which Sandoz relied to support its three propositions as recorded above. As Sandoz noted, Lundbeck A/S is the parent company. Lundbeck AU is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lundbeck A/S. There are other members of the Lundbeck group including CNS Pharma which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lundbeck AU.
203 In February 2007 Lundbeck A/S (defined as Lundbeck Denmark), Lundbeck AU and Sandoz entered into an agreement (referred to as the Sandoz settlement agreement). To the extent currently relevant, the provisions of the Sandoz settlement agreement include recitals as follows:
(a) Lundbeck Denmark is the owner of the Patent.
(b) Lundbeck Australia is the exclusive licensee of the Patent in Australia.
(c) On 13 April 2006, Sandoz commenced the Proceeding.
(d) Without Sandoz conceding the validity of any claims in the Patent or Lundbeck Denmark or Lundbeck Australia conceding the invalidity of any claims in the Patent, the Parties have agreed to settle the Proceedings on the terms set out in this Agreement.
204 The defined terms include Patent (the 144 patent) and Proceeding (NSD 714 of 2006 by Sandoz against Lundbeck Denmark seeking revocation of the Patent).
205 By cl 3(1) of the Sandoz settlement agreement:
Lundbeck Denmark and Lundbeck Australia jointly and severally grant Sandoz an irrevocable non-exclusive license to the Patent effective from:
(a) 31 May 2009 if the Patent expires on 13 June 2009;
(b) 26 November 2012 if the Patent expires on 9 December 2012;
(c) 31 May 2014 if the Patent expires on 13 June 2014;
(d) 2 weeks prior to the expiry of the Patent if the Patent expires on a date other than a date described in clause 3(a) to (c).
206 By cl 3(2) of the Sandoz settlement agreement:
In addition to the licence granted under clause 3(1), Lundbeck Denmark and Lundbeck Australia jointly and severally grant Sandoz an irrevocable non-exclusive licence to the Patent, effective from the beginning of the calendar month in which the licence granted under clause 3(1) becomes effective, for the sole purpose of manufacturing, importing, marketing and offering to sell (but not selling or supplying) pharmaceutical products containing escitalopram.
207 On 28 May 2009 the solicitors for Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU sent a letter which Sandoz contends varied the Sandoz settlement agreement. That letter is considered below. The Sandoz settlement agreement either does or does not have the effect for which Sandoz contended, which is to disclose that Lundbeck AU was not the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent by reason of the 2005 agreement at any time or ceased to be the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent by reason of the Sandoz settlement agreement. The former argument depends on the pleaded proposition that the 2005 agreement does not fully disclose the legal rights between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU and does not constitute the whole of the arrangement between them (in contrast to Actavis v Orion at [226]-[229]). The latter argument depends on Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU having jointly and severally agreed in the Sandoz settlement agreement to grant Sandoz a licence of the 144 patent which must mean that rights to do so were agreed between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU to remain in Lundbeck A/S, a necessary corollary of which is that Lundbeck AU ceased to be the exclusive licensee from that time. This is said to be supported by the fact that by cl 6 of the 2005 agreement Lundbeck AU was prohibited from authorising a third party to exploit the 144 patent, yet Lundbeck AU did so under the Sandoz settlement agreement.
208 The same considerations apply to the other agreements and documents on which Sandoz relied. The documentary evidence is summarised as follows by Sandoz:
(a) As at January 2005, Lundbeck AU was the exclusive distributor in Australia of Lundbeck DN's CIPRAMIL and LEXAPRO products: GX TB, Ex 32, Tab 1.
(b) Under cl 6 of the "Licence Agreement" dated 26 September 2005, which is said to constitute the exclusive licence, Lundbeck AU is prohibited from authorising a third party to exploit the Patent: CB Vol G, Tab 93, p 1887.
(c) In the "Sandoz Settlement Agreement" executed by the parties in February 2007, Lundbeck DN and Lundbeck AU jointly and severally granted Sandoz a licence to exploit the Patent: CB Vol H4, Tab 268, p 4669.
(d) Lundbeck AU has sold Lundbeck's LEXAPRO products in Australia since at least June 2009: CB Vol A, Tab 5, p 62 [7(c)].
(e) CNS Pharma has supplied Lundbeck's ESIPRAM products in Australia since at least June 2009: see GX TB, Ex 32, Tabs 21, 31 and 33 and CB Vol B, Tab 64, para 17; T571.40-41 and LCS [2].
(f) In "confirmatory" documents formalising the existing supply arrangements between Lundbeck DN and Lundbeck AU, and Lundbeck DN and CNS Pharma, Lundbeck AU and CNS Pharma are treated equally, vis-à-vis Lundbeck DN, in respect of escitalopram products: GX TB, Ex 32, Tabs 37 and 38.
(g) In each of those confirmatory documents, Lundbeck DN purports to grant authority to the counterparty under "the Patents": GX TB, Ex 32, Tabs 37 and 38, cl 2.1 in each agreement. In each of these agreements, "Patents" is defined to include "any present…patent…relating to the Finished Products that are Lundbeck owned or licensed or otherwise covered by a right of use of Lundbeck". There is no evidence of any grant of a right of use by Lundbeck AU to Lundbeck DN …
(h) In Lundbeck's internal documents, and documents prepared for the purposes of tax authorities, Lundbeck Australia is treated as a mere sales and distribution company and is described as "not holding any IP": see GX TB, Ex 32, Tabs 39 (sections 1.1, 2.2, 2.3, 5), 40 (sections 2.2.2.1, 2.8.1.3, 2.8.2.2, 2.8.4, and especially 2.10) and 41 (section 1.1.3). The 2005 "Exclusive Licence" agreement is not mentioned in the "overview of inter-company agreements" in the Lundbeck AU Transfer Pricing Files: see GX TB, Ex 32, Tab 39, "Section 5".
(i) In June 2009, Lundbeck Export A/S, of which Lundbeck DN is the parent company, licensed Genepharm (Australia) Limited to purchase via CNS Pharma, and sell in Australia, escitalopram products. The recitals to that agreement indicate that Lundbeck DN has granted Lundbeck Export A/S the rights to commercialise the product in Australia. Lundbeck Export A/S executed that agreement on 12 June 2009: GX TB, Ex 32, Tab 20.
209 According to Sandoz this evidence supports the following:
(a) Lundbeck DN and Lundbeck AU, in entering into the Sandoz Settlement Agreement, necessarily agreed between themselves, or acted pursuant to an arrangement or understanding between them, to deal with the Patent inconsistently with the terms of the Licence Agreement in at least two ways:
(i) Lundbeck DN's authority to severally grant a licence to Sandoz to exploit the Patent is inconsistent with Lundbeck AU being an exclusive licensee under the Licence Agreement.
(ii) Lundbeck AU's authority to severally grant a licence to Sandoz to exploit the Patent is inconsistent with the prohibition in clause 6 of the Licence Agreement on sub-licensing a third party.
(b) It follows from (a) that the Licence Agreement does not represent the entirety of the relationship between Lundbeck DN and Lundbeck AU and is not an instrument that records or discloses the full legal rights and entitlements of the parties to it.
(c) As submitted, there is no evidence of any grant by Lundbeck AU to Lundbeck DN of a licence to exploit the Patent. Further, because Lundbeck AU was not itself granted the right to authorise third parties to exploit the Patent, it could not grant Lundbeck DN the right to authorise third parties to do so (even if it could have licensed Lundbeck DN to exploit the Patent). Accordingly, any grant by Lundbeck DN to a third party of authority to exploit the Patent can only be pursuant to retained rights to authorise third parties to do so, or an understanding between Lundbeck DN and Lundbeck AU that Lundbeck DN was permitted to do so.
(d) The conduct of Lundbeck DN and AU in February 2007 in entering into the Sandoz Settlement Agreement is sufficient to undermine Lundbeck AU's status as exclusive licensee. They jointly assented, in a written agreement, to the grant by each of them jointly and severally of authority to exploit the Patent, and in doing so necessarily departed from the Licence Agreement for the reasons set out in (a)-(c) above.
(e) In the documents formalising Lundbeck DN's pre-existing arrangements vis-à-vis Lundbeck AU and CNS Pharma in respect of, inter alia, escitalopram products in 2012, Lundbeck DN is treated as the holder of the relevant patents and Lundbeck DN purports to authorise Lundbeck AU and CNS Pharma respectively to exploit those patents. By the equal treatment of Lundbeck AU and CNS Pharma, Lundbeck DN is necessarily dealing with each of them as no more than a non-exclusive licensee. By definition, it cannot be dealing with both as exclusive licensees.
(f) The proposition that Lundbeck AU is a mere seller and distributor of escitalopram products is supported by Lundbeck's internal documentation and documentation prepared for the purpose of satisfying taxation authorities about the group's internal arrangements.
(g) That proposition is also supported by the "Genepharm Supply Agreement" …As recorded in the recitals to that agreement, Lundbeck DN granted Lundbeck Export A/S rights to commercialise an escitalopram product in Australia. Lundbeck Export A/S executed the document on 12 June 2009. As within the Lundbeck group, Lundbeck DN purported, on or before 12 June 2009, to grant Lundbeck Export A/S the right to deal in an escitalopram product in Australia. That would amount to a licence from the patentee to exploit the Patent and undermine Lundbeck AU's status as exclusive licensee. It is also further conduct inconsistent with Lundbeck AU's alleged status as exclusive licensee within the group.
210 Sandoz also submitted this:
To the extent that it is necessary to go any further, those matters … support a finding that Lundbeck DN and Lundbeck AU intended that the Licence Agreement would give Lundbeck AU standing to sue under the Act, but did not intend that Lundbeck AU would in fact be the exclusive licensee of the Patent. That is, although they intended the Licence Agreement to give rise to one legal result, they did not intend to deal with the Patent consistently with the underlying division of rights that was necessary to give rise to that legal result.
211 I do not accept Sandoz's case.
212 In Actavis v Orion at [226]-[229] the issue was the lack of any pleading that the agreement between the patentee and exclusive licensee was a sham. As [229] of Actavis v Orion notes, a sham transaction is one involving a subterfuge. In the present case, Sandoz has avoided the language of sham, but claims that the 2005 agreement does not fully disclose the legal rights between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU and does not constitute the whole of the arrangement between them. There are only two ways of understanding this case. Either the 2005 agreement does not fully disclose the legal rights between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU at the time it was made, in which event the 2005 agreement was a sham or it should be inferred that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU subsequently varied the 2005 agreement to create different rights from those created by the 2005 agreement. It appears from the last of the submissions recorded above, (that by the 2005 agreement Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU did not intend that Lundbeck AU in fact would be the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent) that Sandoz's claim is unnecessarily coy; it is contending that the 2005 agreement is a sham transaction.
213 To the extent the case of Sandoz is that the 2005 agreement is a sham, certain principles are engaged which Sandoz has not confronted. In particular, as Leeming JA (McColl JA and Sackville AJA agreeing) said in Lewis v Condon; Condon v Lewis [2013] NSWCA 204; (2013) 85 NSWLR 99:
[60] Basic to the legal notion of sham is that it is a confined and exceptional aspect of the process of giving legal meaning to a document, as Professor Conaglen has pointed out ("Sham Trusts" (2008) 67 CLJ 176 at 206):
The relevance of the sham doctrine, and the difference between it and normal processes of construction, lies in the fact that it justifies the court in ignoring (as opposed to construing) the usual primary material regarding that transaction, and focusing its attention instead on all other material factors which indicate the arrangement that the parties in fact intended.
[61] That echoes the words of Windeyer J in Scott v Cmr of Taxation (Cth) (No 2) (1966) 40 ALJR 265 at 279:
The difficult and debatable philosophic questions of the meaning and relationship of reality, substance and form are for the purposes of our law generally resolved by asking did the parties who entered into the ostensible transaction mean it to be in truth their transaction, or did they mean it to be, and in fact use it as, merely a disguise, a facade, a sham, a false front … concealing their real transaction.
[62] The sham doctrine is thus one of those relatively rare doctrines in the law where legal meaning is given to a document by reference to a subjective intention. Other examples are a plea of non est factum at law and a claim for rectification in equity. All these doctrines "must necessarily be kept within narrow limits", for all subtract from the objective theory of contractual obligation, and if unchecked would cause "serious mischief": see Toll (FGCT) Pty Ltd v Alphapharm Pty Ltd [2004] HCA 52; (2004) 219 CLR 165 at [46]-[47]. This has long been the law: see for example Jordan CJ's reasons in Perpetual Trustee Co (Ltd) v Bligh (1940) 38 SR NSW 33 at 39-40. In all these areas, strong evidence is required in order to displace the orthodox approach to construction. Hence the "heavy onus" that must be discharged by the plaintiff in a non est factum case (Petelin v Cullen (1975) 132 CLR 355 at 360) and the need for "clear and convincing proof" in a rectification suit (Franklins Pty Ltd v Metcash Pty Ltd [2009] NSWCA 407; (2009) 76 NSWLR 603 at [451]-[460]).
[63] Because a finding of sham requires a finding of an intent to deceive, considerations associated with Briginshaw v Briginshaw (1938) 60 CLR 336 require a cautious approach: Raftland Pty Ltd v Commission of Taxation [Raftland Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2008] HCA 21; (2008) 238 CLR 516] at [36]. Thus there is a "strong and natural presumption against holding a provision or a document a sham": National Westminster Bank plc v Jones [2001] 1 BCLC 98 at [59] (Neuberger J). "A court will only look behind a transaction's ostensible validity if there is a good reason to do so, and 'good reason' is a high threshold, since a premium is placed on commercial certainty": Official Assignee v Wilson [2007] NZCA 122; [2008] 3 NZLR 45 at [52] (Robertson and O'Regan JJ). Lockhart J referred to "a strong finding, and one which cannot be made if another inference is at least equally open" in Sharrment Pty Ltd v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy at 461.
214 Sandoz has not come close to proving that the 2005 agreement was a sham when made. Its case does not grapple with the relevant principles which apply. Avoiding the language of sham, when the substance of the case is that there was a sham, does not mean that the applicable principles can also be avoided. There is no foundation for any finding that, when the 2005 agreement was made, Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU, "did not intend that Lundbeck AU would in fact be the exclusive licensee" of the 144 patent. Nor is there any foundation for a finding that, at that time, Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU did not intend to deal with the 144 patent consistently with the 144 patent.
215 The alternative case, as noted, is that subsequent events prove or give effect to some other agreement, arrangement or understanding between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU.
216 All of the other agreements are to be construed in accordance with the following principles, summarised in Franklins Pty Ltd v Metcash Trading Ltd [2009] NSWCA 407; (2009) 76 NSWLR 603 as follows:
[14] The state of the law in this respect is to be ascertained from a number of High Court cases: Maggbury Pty Ltd v Hafele Australia Pty Ltd (2001) 210 CLR 181; 185 ALR 152; 53 IPR 1; [2001] HCA 70 at [11]…; Pacific Carriers [Pacific Carriers Ltd v BNP Paribas [2004] HCA 35; (2004) 218 CLR 451] at [22]; Zhu v Treasurer (NSW) (2004) 218 CLR 530; 211 ALR 159; [2004] HCA 56 at [82]…; Toll [(FGCT) Pty Ltd v Alphapharm Pty Ltd [2004] HCA 52; (2004) 219 CLR 165] at [40] and International Air Transport Association v Ansett Australia Holdings Ltd (2008) 234 CLR 151; 242 ALR 47; 65 ACSR 1; [2008] HCA 3 at [8] and [53] … These cases are clear. The construction and interpretation of written contracts is to be undertaken by an examination of the text of the document in the context of the surrounding circumstances known to the parties, including the purpose and object of the transaction and by assessing how a reasonable person would have understood the language in that context. There is no place in that structure, so expressed, for a requirement to discern textual, or any other, ambiguity in the words of the document before any resort can be made to such evidence of surrounding circumstances.
…
[19] The essential character of the task of construction of commercial contracts can be seen in a number of authoritative decisions of the High Court, and of other courts authoritatively endorsed by the High Court. A commercial contract should be given a businesslike interpretation … Thus, the nature and extent of the commercial aims and purposes of the agreement or parts thereof are part of the essential background circumstances … The need for a businesslike construction not only informs the nature and extent of the extrinsic material legitimately of assistance, but it also directs the approach to be taken to the ascription of meaning to the words used by the parties. The words should be given a construction so as "to avoid … [making] commercial nonsense or is shown to be commercially inconvenient": Hide & Skin Trading Pty Ltd v Oceanic Meat Traders Ltd (1990) 20 NSWLR 310 at 313-14 per Kirby P cited by the court in Zhu at [82] . This is not only a reflection of the place of the informing surrounding circumstances, it is also a requirement not to approach words in a business contract pedantically or in a manner prone to defeat the evident commercial purpose.
217 It is true that as at January 2005 Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU had entered into a distribution agreement. The distribution agreement is dated 1997 (referred to as the 1997 agreement). Under it, Lundbeck A/S granted to Lundbeck AU the right to distribute, promote, market and sell Finished Products in the Territory (art 2). The Finished Products are defined to mean the products of Lundbeck origin listed in Appendix A "supplied by Lundbeck in final consumer packages ready for resale and use in the Territory". The Finished Products in Appendix A include but are not limited to Lexapro and Cipramil. The Territory is Australia.
218 It is apparent that the 1997 agreement does not deal with patent rights. If I infer that there is no other such agreement (which I do) then I would construe the 1997 agreement as conferring such rights on Lundbeck AU as may be necessary for it to do that which the 1997 agreement authorises. As nothing in the 1997 agreement excludes any rights of Lundbeck A/S, the 1997 agreement cannot constitute Lundbeck AU as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. Nor does Lundbeck suggest this to be so. As a result, all that can be said is that Lundbeck was not the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent until the 2005 agreement was executed. There is no inconsistency between the 1997 agreement and the 2005 agreement making Lundbeck AU the exclusive patentee of the 144 patent. The 2005 agreement does not commit Lundbeck A/S to supply or Lundbeck AU to distribute any product. It is the 1997 agreement which, construed as a whole (see, for example, the definition of Finished Product and arts 6 and 7) involves obligations of supply and distribution.
219 Nothing about the 1997 agreement suggests that the 2005 agreement is a sham or is to be read as if it said something other than what it says.
220 The Sandoz settlement agreement was entered into in February 2007, after execution of the 2005 agreement. Accordingly, the 2005 agreement is part of the surrounding circumstances in which the 2007 agreement must be construed. Further, it is not apparent to me why an agreement entered into two years after the 2005 agreement would be taken to be evidence that the 2005 agreement, at the time it was entered into, was a sham or did not mean what it said. As a result, Sandoz is left with an argument that the Sandoz settlement agreement, by its terms, evidences some variation to the 2005 agreement pursuant to which Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU agreed that Lundbeck A/S had the right to authorise Sandoz to exploit the 144 patent (so Lundbeck AU was no longer the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent) and Lundbeck AU also had the right to authorise Sandoz to exploit the 144 patent (despite cl 6 of the 2005 agreement).
221 The problem with this argument is that there are good reasons not to infer any such agreed variation between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU by reason of the terms of the Sandoz settlement agreement or otherwise.
222 First, the Sandoz settlement agreement, in recital (b), states that "Lundbeck Australia is the exclusive licensee of the Patent in Australia". There is no recital suggesting that by entering into the Sandoz settlement agreement or otherwise Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU had agreed that Lundbeck AU was no longer to be the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. Accordingly, the case of Sandoz is that, from the terms of the Sandoz settlement agreement (specifically, the joint and several grant of the licence in cl 3(1)), this should be inferred to be the mutual intention of Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU.
223 Second, such an inferred mutual intention from the joint and several grant of the licence to Sandoz seems objectively inconsistent with how a reasonable person would have understood the language of cl 3(1) in the surrounding circumstances which were known to Lundbeck A/S, Lundbeck AU and Sandoz. The known surrounding circumstances are referred to in cl 1 of the Sandoz settlement agreement in which Sandoz agreed not to assist Alphapharm in proceedings NSD 1120 of 2005 or NSD 1870 of 2005 or Arrow in proceeding NSD 954 of 2006. These are the proceedings which Lindgren J decided in the Lindgren J judgment. In those proceedings, Lundbeck A/S as patentee and Lundbeck AU as exclusive licensee cross-claimed against Alphapharm for infringement. These circumstances, referred to by Lindgren J in the Lindgren J judgment at [34] and [634], were part of the known surrounding circumstances to the parties at the time they entered into the Sandoz settlement agreement.
224 Third, and related to the second proposition, imputing to Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU (and, for that matter, Sandoz) a mutual intention, by the terms of the Sandoz settlement agreement, to vary the 2005 agreement so that Lundbeck AU was no longer the exclusive licensee makes no commercial sense. From the perspective of Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU they would be agreeing to change the status of Lundbeck AU so that Lundbeck AU would no longer be able to maintain the infringement proceedings against Alphapharm, which are the very proceedings which Sandoz, in the Sandoz settlement agreement, was agreeing not to provide any assistance. From the perspective of Sandoz, Lundbeck AU would no longer be the exclusive licensee contrary to recital (b) of the Sandoz settlement agreement. Why a reasonable person would infer from the Sandoz settlement agreement any variation to the 2005 agreement in these circumstances is not apparent.
225 Fourth, there are ways of construing the Sandoz settlement agreement which do not make it internally inconsistent (as between recital (b) and cll 3(1) and (2)) and do not involve apparent commercial unreasonableness given the known surrounding circumstances.
226 One such construction is to read cll 3(1) and 3(2) as a form of "belt and braces" drafting by Sandoz (it being known that an in-house lawyer for Sandoz, James Sharkey, drafted the settlement agreement). That is, the clauses are to be read as saying, in effect, that to the extent either or both of Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU are capable of granting a licence to Sandoz, each does so individually and together. As the true legal position is that in the 2005 agreement, the fact is Lundbeck A/S had no such capacity. To that extent, cll 3(1) and 3(2) are simply inoperative. Only Lundbeck AU could grant the licence and thus all that Lundbeck A/S could (and did) agree to was to endorse Lundbeck AU to do so notwithstanding cl 6 of the 2005 agreement. This construction makes commercial sense from the perspective of all of the parties to the Sandoz settlement agreement. Sandoz had no interest in the arrangements between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU other than it knew that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU considered Lundbeck AU to be the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent (see recital (b)). Sandoz's interest was in obtaining a legally effective licence from whichever Lundbeck party could grant it. From Sandoz's perspective a joint and several grant from both covered all possibilities. From Lundbeck's perspective, the same result could be achieved without undermining the recited status of Lundbeck AU as the exclusive licensee.
227 Another such construction also reflects this "belt and braces" approach by Sandoz to which Lundbeck could agree without undermining the recited status of Lundbeck AU as the exclusive licensee. Again, it is based on the self-evident proposition that Sandoz had no interest in the arrangements between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU. If to this is added another surrounding circumstance, that Sandoz had no control over arrangements between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU after entry into the Sandoz settlement agreement, then obtaining a joint and several licence protected Sandoz from any future termination of the agreement between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU.
228 On this basis, cll 3(1) and 3(2) should be construed as meaning not that Lundbeck A/S has purported to grant a licence which it had no power to grant, but that the grant by Lundbeck A/S is a future contingent grant, the relevant contingency being that Lundbeck AU no longer has exclusive or any power to grant Sandoz the licence. From Sandoz's perspective, ensuring its rights did not depend on arrangements between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU, was a commercial necessity. From the perspective of Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU, cll 3(1) and (2) also ensured that the Sandoz licence was not dependent on the existing arrangements between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU continuing.
229 It is not necessary to determine which of these constructions of the Sandoz settlement agreement is to be preferred. The relevant point is that both are to be preferred to the position posited by Sandoz, that the Sandoz settlement agreement had the effect of making Lundbeck AU no longer the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent or otherwise evidences another agreement between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU under which Lundbeck AU was no longer the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. The fact that it may be taken by the Sandoz settlement agreement that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU must have agreed that Lundbeck AU could sub-license rights despite cl 6 of the 2005 agreement (noting cl 9 of the 2005 agreement which provides for any variation to be in writing and signed by the parties) is immaterial. The Sandoz settlement agreement is in writing and signed by Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU. The capacity for Lundbeck AU to enter into the Sandoz settlement agreement was a necessity for the settlement agreement to be made. But to construe the Sandoz settlement agreement, by cll 3(1) and 3(2), making or meaning that Lundbeck AU is no longer the exclusive licensee is of a different character in that it:
(1) is not necessary to give a sensible commercial effect to the Sandoz settlement agreement;
(2) would create an internal inconsistency between recital (b) and cll 3(1) and 3(2) of the Sandoz settlement agreement; and
(3) would produce a commercially unreasonable outcome from the perspective of all parties to the Sandoz settlement agreement having regard to recital (b).
230 Just as there is no reason to construe the Sandoz settlement agreement in this way, so too there is even less reason for inferring from the Sandoz settlement agreement that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU, at any time had or entered into some other agreement, arrangement or understanding pursuant to which Lundbeck AU was not or was no longer the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. As between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU such an agreement, arrangement or understanding at any time between the date of the 2005 agreement and the date of the Sandoz settlement agreement would have been commercially unfathomable given that Lundbeck AU being the exclusive licensee was the source of its right to maintain the infringement proceedings against Alphapharm which remained undetermined.
231 The same reasoning applies to the 28 May 2009 letter. That letter involves undertakings from Sandoz to Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU and cross-undertakings from Lundbeck A/S to Sandoz including that "Lundbeck has also agreed that, pending the outcome of the Full Court appeal, Sandoz may import into Australia pharmaceutical products containing escitalopram". The reference to "Lundbeck" here is a reference to Lundbeck A/S. It would not be inferred from this that Lundbeck AU was not the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent, for the reasons already given. This is particularly so given that the reality was that Sandoz had already imported the products into Australia purportedly under the licence it had in cl 3(2) of the Sandoz settlement agreement. Lundbeck A/S was not granting Sandoz any rights in its cross-undertaking. It was confining what Sandoz had already done. As such, the 28 May 2009 letter does not add anything to the Sandoz settlement agreement, insofar as the issue of the status of Lundbeck AU is concerned.
232 The supply agreement dated 22 June 2009 is between a third party, Genepharm (Australia) Pty Ltd and Lundbeck Export A/S. The recitals to that agreement record that Lundbeck A/S is the parent company of Lundbeck Export A/S. They record also that Lundbeck's affiliated companies have been marketing escitalopram in Australia under the trademark Lexapro since 2003. The recitals also record that:
… Lundbeck's parent company H. Lundbeck A/S … has granted Lundbeck [Lundbeck Export A/S] rights to commercialise the said product in i.a. Australia [sic].
…Genepharm is interested in purchasing finished, packaged pharmaceutical products from Lundbeck, via its affiliate CNS Pharma, in order for Genepharm to sell the products in Australia under the trademark Esipram®…
233 Other relevant provisions of the 22 June 2009 agreement include:
2.1 Lundbeck hereby grants to Genepharm and Genepharm hereby accepts the exclusive right to import, market, distribute and sell the Product in the Territory under the Trademark at its own risk and account.
…
2.2 Lundbeck may perform its obligations under this agreement through its affiliate, CNS Pharma.
234 By cl 1, CNS Pharma is the same company which is a party in this matter, Product means escitalopram oxalate tablets, Territory means Australia, and Trademark means Esipram.
235 Other facts forming part of the surrounding circumstances to the 22 June 2009 agreement are relevant. In short, CNS Pharma was (and is) the wholly owned subsidiary of Lundbeck AU which was selling in Australia escitalopram oxalate tablets under the name Esipram. Leaving aside two critical facts, one that Lundbeck A/S is not a party to the 22 June 2009 agreement and two that the agreement does not mention rights under the 144 patent (cl 2.1 confining itself to "right[s] … under the Trademark") there are two possibilities which appear to inform the case of Sandoz, being:
(1) despite Lundbeck Export A/S not being the patentee or the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent, it was purporting by the 22 June 2009 agreement to grant rights under the 144 patent which it did not have to Genepharm; and
(2) as a result of (1), it must or should be inferred that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU had varied the 2005 agreement so that Lundbeck AU was no longer the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent, as Lundbeck Export A/S was also a licensee of that patent.
236 Again, both possibilities appear to me to involve commercial unrealities. It is not necessary or commercially sensible to read the recital that Lundbeck A/S has granted Lundbeck Export A/S the right to "commercialise the said product in… Australia" as meaning that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU had varied the 2005 agreement so that Lundbeck AU was no longer the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU are not parties to the 22 June 2009 agreement and it cannot be read as if they were. Nor, for the same reason, should it be read as evidencing some varied agreement, arrangement or understanding between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU as to Lundbeck AU's status as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent, particularly not to detriment of those parties where other commercially sensible inferences are available.
237 In particular, Lundbeck AU must be taken to have authorised its wholly owned subsidiary, CNS Pharma, to exploit the invention the subject of the 144 patent. CNS Pharma did so under the trademark Esipram. The notion that another company in the Lundbeck group, Lundbeck Export A/S, could purport to authorise Genepharm to sell Esipram in Australia under the Esipram trademark, including agreeing with Genepharm that it, Lundbeck Export A/S, could perform its obligations under the agreement though its affiliate, CNS Pharma, without Lundbeck AU also agreeing to licence Genepharm to do so is a commercial and legal nonsense. This may explain why no rights under the 144 patent are purported to be granted to Genepharm under cl 2.1. Only Lundbeck AU could grant those rights given its status as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. Alternatively, if cl 2.1 is read as Lundbeck Export A/S giving Genepharm rights under the 144 patent, then it must be inferred that Lundbeck AU, in its capacity as the exclusive licensee, gave such rights to Lundbeck Export A/S. There is no other way Lundbeck Export A/S could have obtained such rights unless it is inferred that, despite being in the midst of the appeal from the Alphapharm proceedings, Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU agreed that Lundbeck AU should no longer be the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. Again, to my mind, any such inference would be commercially unfathomable.
238 Whatever the actual position of Lundbeck AU, the inescapable facts are these. Neither Lundbeck A/S nor Lundbeck AU are parties to the 22 June 2009 agreement. The mere fact that Lundbeck Export A/S, from the terms of the recitals may be taken to be a subsidiary of Lundbeck A/S, does not mean that Lundbeck Export A/S had the power unilaterally to vary the 2005 agreement between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU. On the same basis, the statement in the recital that Lundbeck A/S had granted Lundbeck Export A/S the right to commercialise escitalopram oxalate tablets in Australia cannot evidence, as between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU, any variation to the 2005 agreement given that neither Lundbeck A/S nor Lundbeck AU is a party to the 22 June 2009 agreement. It follows that if cl 2.1 involves any right to exploit the invention the subject of the 144 patent, unless Lundbeck Export A/S was on a frolic of its own (which also seems unlikely), it must be taken to have had Lundbeck AU's permission, to the extent necessary, to authorise Genepharm in accordance with cl 2.1 of the 22 June 2009 agreement.
239 On this basis, at worst, an agreement between a company related to Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU has entered into an agreement with a third party which may contain an error in the first recital insofar as it refers to Lundbeck A/S and not Lundbeck AU having granted Lundbeck Export A/S rights to commercialise the product in Australia. That error is not attributable to Lundbeck A/S or Lundbeck AU. It cannot found inferences of the kind which Sandoz asked to be drawn of either the 2005 agreement being a sham or having been subsequently varied so that Lundbeck AU is no longer the exclusive licensee.
240 The fact that CNS Pharma, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lundbeck AU, has supplied Esipram tablets in Australia since at least 2009 is immaterial to the status of Lundbeck AU as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. As noted, the only available inference is that, consistent with its rights as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent, Lundbeck AU has authorised its wholly owned subsidiary to exploit the invention.
241 As I would understand it, Sandoz stressed cl 6 of the 2005 agreement (that Lundbeck AU may not assign or sub-license its rights to a third party) because Lundbeck AU subsequently did so, in the case of Sandoz and CNS Pharma, and (arguably) Lundbeck Export A/S (as discussed above). I have already noted above that I see no difficulty in construing the Sandoz settlement agreement as involving a variation to cl 6 of the 2005 agreement as between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU, and that I do not see acceptance of this variation as providing any support for a further variation by which Lundbeck AU was agreed between them no longer to be the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. The same reasoning applies to the inferred agreement between Lundbeck AU and CNS Pharma and (if it is necessary to say it exists) between Lundbeck AU, Lundbeck Export A/S and Genepharm. And insofar as cl 9 of the 2005 agreement is relevant (variations were to be in writing and signed by the parties), Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU were free to vary that requirement as well. Given the relationships between members of the Lundbeck group, an inference of variations to cll 6 and 9 to the extent necessary is far more supportable than the inference Sandoz proposed that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU had an agreement, arrangement or understanding either that the 2005 agreement was a sham or that it was varied so Lundbeck AU was no longer the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent.
242 The so-called "confirmatory" documents formalising the existing supply agreements with Lundbeck A/S entered into in 2012 do not assist Sandoz. First, they are supply and distribution agreements under which Lundbeck A/S is to supply and either Lundbeck AU or CNS Pharma is to distribute the products. Second, they are entered into in circumstances where Lundbeck AU, the parent of CNS Pharma, is constituted as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent under the 2005 agreement. Third, they say nothing about the 2005 agreement or Lundbeck AU's status as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent under the 2005 agreement. Fourth, they are not confined to escitalopram products. They cover numerous products of which escitalopram products are but one and, in that sense, are to be understood as pro-forma documents in respect of products where rights under relevant Patents and Trademarks (as defined) may be different as between products.
243 In accordance with my reasoning above, I would not infer from the distribution agreement between Lundbeck A/S and CNS Pharma, entered into when Lundbeck A/S was seeking to extend the term of the 144 patent, that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU should be inferred to have some agreement, arrangement or understanding by which Lundbeck AU was no longer the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. As noted, CNS Pharma was the wholly owned subsidiary of Lundbeck AU. As between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU it makes far more commercial sense to construe cl 2.1 of the agreement with CNS Pharma in one of two ways rather than taking it as evidence of some agreement, arrangement or understanding by which Lundbeck AU was no longer the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. One, to the extent the 144 patent is concerned, Lundbeck A/S had no rights under the 144 patent to grant to CNS Pharma. Two, to the extent it had any such rights, Lundbeck A/S got those rights from Lundbeck AU as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent.
244 In short, I do not accept the case theory of Sandoz that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU should be found to have created a sham in 2005. As such, Lundbeck AU was the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent in 2005. I also do not accept the case theory of Sandoz that Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU should be found subsequently to have acted contrary to their own commercial interests by varying the 2005 agreement so that Lundbeck AU was no longer the exclusive licensee when, at all material times, Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU were positively asserting to the contrary in the Alphapharm proceedings or were taking active steps to extend the term of the 144 patent for the sole possible reason of seeking damages for infringement which, for Lundbeck AU, depended on its continuing status as the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent. I accept that they must be taken to have varied the 2005 agreement to permit Lundbeck AU to authorise others (CNS Pharma and perhaps Genepharm, if the agreement with Genepharm is read in that way) to exploit the invention the subject of the 144 patent. But, the latter conclusion is essential and, in all of the surrounding circumstances as described and as known to those involved, makes commercial sense. The former conclusion is one of a number of alternatives which would have made no commercial sense in the circumstances as they existed at all relevant times. As a result, Sandoz's construction of the various agreements is inconsistent with the required approach, which is to read the language of those agreements as would be read by a reasonable person, in the context of the known surrounding circumstances, and so as to achieve commercial sense rather than commercial nonsense.
245 The other documents on which Sandoz relied, in my view, are immaterial. Whatever might have been said in taxation or internal documents, it is the agreements which found the rights. Further, many of these documents, although undated, must constitute subsequent conduct. The transfer pricing documents relate to the 2008-2010 period, 2011 and 2015. As such, nothing said in them can affect the construction of the various agreements (made between 2005 and 2012) made previously. The fact that Lundbeck AU is described as a "distributor" is also immaterial. The context of the transfer pricing documents is different from that of patent rights. In particular, nothing Lundbeck AU said in a transfer pricing document for 2015 can be relevant. The fact that the 2015 document says that Lundbeck A/S "owns" all IP and that Lundbeck AU "owns no IP", even if it could be relevant, is consistent with Lundbeck A/S being the patentee of the 144 patent and Lundbeck AU being the exclusive licensee of that patent. An analysis of the roles of Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU cannot bear upon any matter relevant for present purposes. Nor can it be relevant that these documents do not mention the 2005 agreement between Lundbeck A/S and Lundbeck AU.
246 For these reasons I do not accept the case of Sandoz that Lundbeck AU was not the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent at any material time. It was the exclusive licensee of the 144 patent under the 2005 agreement at all material times.