Ford Global Technologies enhanced their Employee Patent Incentive Award program for workers at TechShop that have built a patentable product.

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And weakening patent protection means less incentive to invest in new drugs.

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"This provision severely devalues all underlying patent rights and could seriously undermine the incentive to develop novel new forms of medicines and other technologies, " says BIO chief Jim Greenwood.

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On balance, the availability of a patent for software or business methods provides little incentive to developers.

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Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb lose patent protection on Zocor and Pravachol next year, removing any incentive.

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The Petitioners asked the Court to review whether federal antitrust laws prohibit the settlement of patent litigation between a branded drug maker and a generic drug company which include a financial incentive for the generic company to hold off marketing its product for a time period.

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After a chemical loses its patent protection, and can be made in far cheaper generic versions, there is no financial incentive for a drug company to pay for large clinical studies.

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