Once the patent expires, 80% of the brand name sales can vanish within a year as generic competitors reach the market.

FORBES: Generics Take A Giant Step

According to the 2010 RBC Capital Markets study, when trial victories, settlements between drugmakers and dropped cases are combined, generic companies were able to bring their product to market before the brand-name drug's patent expired in 76 percent of the 371 drug patent suits decided from 2000 through 2009.

NPR: Court: Can Drug Companies Pay To Delay Generics?

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.

ECONOMIST: Prescription drugs

Martin said two generic firms have challenged the patent, but declined to name them.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Ethiopia wanted U.S. patents on the names of its three best coffee regions, Yirgacheffe, Harrar and Sidamo, while Starbucks sought to patent a coffee with Sidamo in the name.

WSJ: The Indiana Jones of Coffee

The trial goes to the heart of the escalating controversy over how much patent protection pricey brand-name drugs should get.

FORBES: Hard to Swallow

The Graedons noted that while the active ingredient of the drug goes off patent, the pharmaceutical chemistry behind the extended delivery system may still be the intellectual property of the brand-name manufacturer.

FORBES: Ranbaxy: The Pitfalls of Generic Drug Dependence

But the high prices of many patent-protected drugs generate the revenues needed to underwrite the massive research and development expenses that the inventors of brand-name drugs incur.

FORBES: Over-The-Counter Remedies That Would Reduce Health Care Costs