Patent Law

The following is excerpted from the March 24, 2010 post at BUSINESS Casual:

The Financial Times reports that ?a proposal backed by President Barack Obama that would have banned multibillion-dollar deals between big pharmaceutical companies and their generic rivals was stripped out? of the health care legislation days before it was passed by the House. ?The agreements have come under scrutiny from antitrust officials in the United States and Europe because they say the arrangements essentially allow branded drugmakers to pay off potential generic competitors, thereby keeping them out of the market,? according to FT.

...Smeal?s Daniel Cahoy, a patent lawyer and associate professor of business law, explains the special circumstances of these deals and why it was a good idea to remove this seemingly logical provision from the legislation:

In the end neither a total ban on reverse settlements nor a rule making them presumptively legal is likely to best serve the public. Courts and the FTC should assess these actions on a case-by-case basis.

Read Professor Cahoy's full commentary here.