Anti-trust and patents
2008-10-29 13:40:24.417639+01 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
IP Law Observer: Antitrust Laws Did Not Prevent Reverse Payments to Generic Manufacturers to End Patent Validity Challenges. The case is In Re Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litigation, Fed. Cir. No. 2008-1097 (October 15, 2008), Bayer pays money to generic manufacturers to stop their lawsuits challenging the patents on Cipro, this is not deemed anti-competitive under antitrust laws because the patents give them a monopoly on Cipro.
I'm not necessarily in favor of the antitrust laws, but this is clearly another place where the patent system is messed up and being gamed.