But he notes that people are less likely to regard business methods as a valid subject of patent protection.
Must be, otherwise no one could have a patent valid in 2012 for something that has been around since 1972.
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And if a patent is valid, the branded producer has a right to deny the generic drug maker access to the market until that patent expires.
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Kodak reports that the patent was recently upheld as valid by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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There was an ongoing battle with the U.S. Patent Office over whether that patent was valid.
Sure, Apple might win in the end but a ban should really only apply while the system, the law, regards the patent as valid.
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The defendants counter that Astra's supposed invention is obvious and not patentable or that, even if the patent is valid, their versions don't infringe.
For this 1-Click patent is valid in the US, Amazon have sued under it (Barnes and Noble) and they are also licencing it (to Apple).
After all the hard work is done of deciding whether a patent is actually valid or not.
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Google also proposed giving Oracle 0.015% of revenues for use of a second patent which is valid until April 2018.
Short of visiting every library in every major technology center in the world (and perhaps going even further than that), it is very difficult to imagine a scenario where a person can truly feel comfortable that a patent is truly valid.
Today a federal New York judge ruled that the patent on Plavix is still valid and said Sanofi (Plavix's inventor) was entitled to an injunction to keep Apotex from launching a copycat.
However, prior art from any country is valid as a method of striking down a patent.
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It could take years for the Patent Office to decide whose patents are valid.
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Patents are only valid on those countries where you have actually filed and won a patent.
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The patent protecting the active chemical in the drug has already expired, but a second patent, on using that chemical as a muscle relaxant, is valid until December 2021.
It makes sense that the value of companies is based upon the right to exclude all others for 15 years or more (U.S. patents are valid for 20 years from the filing date, but the examination process in the Patent Office will eat up a significant amount of time).
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