Many analysts already expect that generics could enter the market shortly after Claritin's main patent expires at the end of the year.
Such lawsuits are strengthened if the brand-name drug company files a new patent covering, say, the colour of the pill bottle just before the main patent is about to expire.
In 2000 Bristol-Myers won a four-month extension for its BuSpar anxiety drug by obtaining--only hours before the main patent was to expire--a new patent on how the drug is metabolized.
To safely operate in the mobile industry, a company needs to have substantial portfolios in the three main patent areas involved in the design of smartphones: operating system and software, hardware and wireless patents.
FORBES: Identifying The Tech Leaders In LTE Wireless Patents
AstraZeneca's main patent covering the drug expired last October, but the company has managed to keep copycats at bay by suing generic firms for infringing patents, not on the medicine, but on the way it is assembled into a pill.
Its stock is in the dumps, and its main drug, Lipitor, will face patent expiration in 2011.
The UniHome function combines home panels with the main menu, while Huawei's patent-pending Me Widget better utilizes screen real-estate by combining all the information and functions you need in a single, customizable widget.
ENGADGET: Huawei Ascend P2 hitting Europe in Q2 for 399 euros, we go hands-on (update: video)
Merck and Schering already sell a medicine, Vytorin, that combines Zetia with Merck's off-patent cholesterol medicine Zocor, once Lipitor's main rival.
The main reason for the lackluster 2011 results was the loss of patent exclusivity on some of its biggest branded drugs.
Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ) and Schering (nyse: SGP - news - people ) already sell a medicine, Vytorin, that combines Zetia with Merck's off-patent cholesterol medicine Zocor, once Lipitor's main rival.
应用推荐