China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) has ruled that hydrates of patented chemical compounds fall within the scope of compound patents. This ruling came in the case of Yangtze River v HIPI, which involved a dispute over monopolistic practices. The SPC concluded that the hydrate of desloratadine citrate disodium falls within the protection scope of a compound invention patent, despite being a different compound in its hydrated form. The court also highlighted the parameters to consider when determining the protection scope of hydrates in a compound patent.
