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06 June 2014 / Nicola Daniels , Ian Gascoigne
Issue: 7609 / Categories: Features , Commercial
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Ian Gascoigne & Nicola Daniels consider international dimensions to the service conundrum

Should information about an employee, including his job title, information on his business card, the wording of his e-mail signature or the company’s publicity material, be relevant when deciding whether legal proceedings were properly served?

Such information was considered by the Court of Appeal in the appeal of two related cases, Actavis Group hf and Eli Lilly & Company; Medis ehf and Eli Lilly & Company [2013] EWCA Civ 517, [2013] All ER (D) 233 (May). Issues were also raised regarding the acceptance of service by a solicitor, as well as the relevance of the organisation and location of business activities of an international company.

Background

Actavis Group hf and Medis ehf, both Actavis group companies (Actavis), issued proceedings against American company, Eli Lilly & Company (Eli Lilly), seeking a declaration that one of Actavis’s products which it proposed to market did not infringe a patent owned by Eli Lilly in the UK, France, Germany, Italy or Spain. Eli Lilly challenged whether the

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