According to WTO rules, countries must either accept the WTO's stringent patent-protection regime for plant and animal products or set up their own systems for protection.
EU's 20 official languages. (The cost of translation makes getting a patent in Europe far more expensive than in, say, America.) This would have created broad patent-protection and cut costs for inventors.
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So fluid are their markets, and so weak the historical patent-protection in them, that bosses often prefer to keep things in the dark and come up with the next innovation as necessary to stay ahead of the competition.
Under U.S. law, the clock on patent protection--20 years--starts ticking at a drug's invention.
Even if that never happens, Sanofi's cancer drugs eventually are going to lose patent protection--although that could take almost a decade.
Patent protection--which keeps anyone from selling cheaper versions of easy-to-make pills--is the main reason branded prescription drugs are the most profitable product on the planet.
Three once lucrative cholesterol-cutters have already lost patent protection ( Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people )'s Mevacor and Zocor, and Bristol-Myers Squibb (nyse: BMY - news - people )'s Pravachol).
Three once lucrative cholesterol-cutters have already lost patent protection (Merck's Mevacor and Zocor, and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Pravachol).
They found that the patent was more valuable than it initially appeared, because it would allow the biotechnology giant patent protection after its co-marketing deal with partner Pfizer ends.
The trial goes to the heart of the escalating controversy over how much patent protection pricey brand-name drugs should get.
There are bills pending to open up insurance to foreign competition and confer patent protection on foreign-invented pharmaceuticals, both of which are reviled by the left.
This is the day that Zocor, the second-best selling drug in the country, loses patent protection, opening the way for cheaper generic versions--potentially saving consumers and health plans billions while cutting into sales for drugmaker Merck and rivals like Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb lose patent protection on Zocor and Pravachol next year, removing any incentive.
Lilly loses patent protection on its top-seller, the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, in 2011.
Lilly is staggering after the earlier-than-expected loss of patent protection on the antidepressant.
Trolls argue that just because they choose not to make or sell products, they should not have less protection than active patent-holders.
Such a medicine might clear plaque from the arteries and help extend the Lipitor franchise past 2011, when the big-selling drug loses patent protection.
Cholesterol-drug Zocor loses patent protection next year, and the painkiller Vioxx was withdrawn in September because it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
The stated purpose of this bill is to "streamline" the process whereby inventors - the engine behind American entrepreneurialism and economic vitality - can be given patent protection for their products.
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Compared to the past few years, there will simply not be as many big-selling brand-name medicines losing patent protection, which means generic drugmakers cannot simply jumpstart growth by acquiring another generic drugmaker.
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By June, it will lose patent protection on four drugs--Vasotec and Prinivil for hypertension, Mevacor for high cholesterol and Prilosec, which it shares with AstraZeneca (nyse: AZN - news - people), for ulcers.
Worse, the company's chief asset--its nifty software--still has no patent or trademark protection (see radar graph).
American Locker apparently has no patent protection for its meal ticket -- the virtually indestructible plastic postal cluster boxes for housing developments and apartments.
America finally gave enough ground for an agreement that should enable poor countries to override patent protection on drugs when public-health needs justify it.
The drug giant is facing thousands of personal injury lawsuits related to its withdrawn pain pill Vioxx, and its cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor lost patent protection this summer, allowing cheap generics to eat away at its sales.
That's not enough to make up for the hit coming in 2006, when Merck's top seller, the cholesterol-lowering pill Zocor, loses patent protection.
"It is the biggest setback for multinational pharma companies, which have been denied patent protection for a series of life-saving drugs in recent years, " the newspaper said.
To make matters worse for New York-based Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ), the globe's largest drug maker, Zocor maker Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ) will lose patent protection on the active ingredient in that pill next year, causing Zocor's price to plunge as it becomes a cheap generic.
Moreover, its best-selling anti-allergy drug, Claritin, lost patent protection last year and the firm's various strategies to maintain market share have yet to show results.
That leads to another potential upside for Merck: It could switch patients from Zocor to a Zocor-Zetia combination pill before Zocor loses patent protection in 2006.
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