Draft:Adi Levit

Adi Levit is an Israeli intellectual-property lawyer, litigator and author. His practice has focused on patent litigation, pharmaceutical competition and related commercial disputes. He has represented parties in Israeli district courts, the Supreme Court of Israel and proceedings before the Israel Patent Office in cases involving pharmaceutical patents and generic competition, unjust enrichment, copyright, industrial designs, trade secrets and restraints on competition.

Professional publications have particularly associated Levit with pharmaceutical patent litigation. Chambers Global ranks him in intellectual property in Israel and describes him as a seasoned lawyer well regarded for representing pharmaceutical companies in patent litigation. A 2019 article in the Stockholm Intellectual Property Law Review described him as "Israel's leading litigator" and said that his impact in the pharmaceutical industry was "enormous".

Legal career

Levit earned degrees in law and life sciences from Tel Aviv University, was admitted to the Israel Bar in 1988, and established his independent firm in 2006. His professional biography records that he served as chairman of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Israel Bar Association.

A recurring part of Levit's practice has concerned the boundary between patent exclusivity and the entry of generic medicines into the Israeli market. In a 2012 profile, Globes described his firm as responsible for a series of precedents involving patents on major medicines, including Seroxat, Cipralex and Avandia, and linked those cases to the opening of the Israeli market to generic competition.

Pharmaceutical patent and generic-competition litigation

Levit represented Unipharm in litigation concerning Merck's osteoporosis medicine Fosalan (alendronate) and Unipharm's generic product Maxibone. In 2007, Globes reported that the Supreme Court allowed Unipharm to continue marketing Maxibone and identified Levit as Unipharm's counsel.

He represented Unipharm in proceedings concerning Lundbeck's escitalopram product Cipralex. The litigation reached the Jerusalem District Court and the Supreme Court and concerned the term of patent protection and the opening of the market to generic competition.

Levit also represented Unipharm and Trima in Pfizer's Israeli litigation concerning sildenafil and Viagra. Published court materials identify Levit and Deborah Kazis as counsel for the generic companies. He represented Unipharm in litigation concerning GlaxoSmithKline's Seroxat (paroxetine), including later Supreme Court proceedings concerning competition in the antidepressant market.

Sanofi v. Unipharm

One of Levit's most widely reported cases was the litigation between Sanofi and Unipharm concerning clopidogrel, the active ingredient in Plavix. Levit, together with Deborah Kazis and competition lawyer Dror Strum, represented Unipharm in proceedings that ultimately reached an expanded panel of the Supreme Court.

In 2015, the Central District Court ruled for Unipharm in litigation concerning Sanofi's conduct before the Patent Registrar and its effect on generic competition. The Jerusalem Post described the decision as precedent-setting and potentially significant beyond Israel and identified Levit, Kazis and Strum as Unipharm's lawyers.

Following further appellate proceedings, an expanded Supreme Court panel recognized in principle the availability of restitution where a patent applicant deliberately misleads the Patent Registrar and the conduct harms a generic competitor. Calcalist described the result as a "global legal precedent", while Globes described the ruling as the conclusion of a legal battle lasting more than a decade.

Technology and industrial intellectual-property litigation

Levit represented semiconductor-inspection equipment manufacturer Camtek in patent-opposition proceedings against competitor Orbotech before the Israel Patent Office. Published decisions identify him as Camtek's counsel, including in Camtek's successful opposition to Orbotech application 142028 on inventive-step grounds and in the subsequent appeal concerning application 179995.

Levit also represented Klil Industries in Supreme Court litigation against competitor Mipromal Industries concerning the scope of protection for a registered design covering an aluminium profile. The Supreme Court judgment identifies Levit as counsel for Klil.

Mifal HaPais v. Roy Export

Levit represented the Israeli national lottery, Mifal HaPais, in Supreme Court copyright litigation arising from advertisements in which comedian Sefi Rivlin portrayed a character modeled on Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp.

The dispute received international coverage. On 18 February 2000, The New York Times reported on the Supreme Court decision, identifying Levit as the lottery's attorney and quoting his reaction.

Writing

Levit has published fiction and legal literature. His novel Livlo'a Et Elohim (Swallowing God) was published by Yedioth Books. A review in Walla! Culture discussed the satirical novel, whose protagonist is an intellectual-property lawyer, and reported that its first edition sold out quickly.

He co-authored the expanded third edition of The Cross-Examination (HaHakira SheKneged) with his father, lawyer and author Yeshayahu Levit. The National Library of Israel and Sadan Publishing list both as authors.