Rent Check
Two bills to subsidize the production of semiconductors in the United States have been introduced in the Senate. This legislation would be complemented by placing any resultant patents into a manufacturing patent pool so all firms receiving support can share the technology.
News and Commentary
Gerald Barnett goes over one of the most important aspects of the Bayh-Dole Act: the use-it-or-lose-it conditions associated with licensing and holding onto the patent. If a patent holder doesn’t achieve practical application for the patented technology, then the relevant federal agency can exercise march-in rights. This isn’t the only condition applicable for march-in rights, but it’s an important one.
The Federal Circuit has denied an en banc petition for Biogen International, which is suing Banner Life Sciences for alleged patent infringement. Biogen international received a patent extension due to regulatory delays (allowed under 35 USC 156), but the court found that the extension didn’t apply because it only covers the same drug.
In Health GAP, Brook Baker outlines how Gilead–owner of the patent for remdesivir–has an analysis of how Gilead’s restrictive licensing terms and preferential treatment of the U.S. in the initial donation of 500,000 doses will harm developing countries with large populations in need of the drug.
Both characters and the material in which they appear are eligible for copyright protection. But, if a character develops, they’re still the same property and once they enter the public domain anyone can do as they please with it. The Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) estate disagrees however, and is suing Netflix for the use of a “more emotional” Sherlock Holmes in an upcoming movie.
For the second time in the past year, there’s a copyright infringement case related to actual pirates. The authors of a screenplay about the mythical Davey Jones are suing Disney for copyright infringement in their Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, setting up a classic “idea-expression dichotomy” issue similar to the recent Shape of Water infringement suit.
Dennis Crouch finds that patent issuances in 2020 were on track to be similar to 2019, the coronavirus pandemic has slowed issuances. The total number of patents issued is projected to be greater than in 2018.
New Research
A new study from the Perryman Group found that from 2014 to 2019, the inter partes review process saved $2.6 billion in legal costs, in addition to an added $3 billion in business and $1.5 billion in personal income. The lion’s share of these benefits went to manufacturing firms. You can read Josh Landau’s summary of the study on Patent Progress.
A new paper from the American Economic Journal finds that physician access to a decision-relevant drug database increases generic prescribing due to access to pricing and insurance formulary information. This access is an important tool for bringing down healthcare costs.
A new paper examines the prevalence of “patent races,” finding that somewhere around 10% of patents are part of a “race.” Patent race winners engage in greater follow-on innovation, most of which is related to the original patent.
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