patents

Activists protest the prices of prescription drug outside the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., in October 2022.

Health & Safety

White House proposes to 'march in' on patents for costly drugs

3:01pm December 07, 2023

by Sydney Lupkin

To lower drug prices, the Biden administration is looking to assert its authority to license drug patents that rely on government-funded research to drugmakers that would offer cheaper medicines.

Volunteers and health officials hold a dry run for the coronavirus vaccine at a hospital in Allahabad, India. There's concern that drug patents will keep lower income countries from getting the doses they need in a timely fashion.

Health & Safety

What Will It Take To End The COVID-19 Pandemic?

5:38pm January 05, 2021

by Michaeleen Doucleff

Health experts are hopeful that vaccines will stop the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. But what will it take to make the 12 to 15 billion doses to cover the entire globe?

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Purdue Pharma, maker of the opioid OxyContin, has a subsidiary that won a patent for a treatment for opioid addiction.

Health & Safety

Drugmakers Play The Patent Game To Lock In Prices, Block Competitors

11:02am September 28, 2018

by Sarah Jane Tribble

Pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, often win patents for incremental changes with debatable value. Now there's a twist involving an opioid addiction treatment.

Broad Institute Wins Big Battle Over CRISPR Gene-Editing Patent

7:31pm February 15, 2017

by Richard Harris

CRISPR technology is already worth billions of dollars, investors say. This ruling seems to affirm the biggest piece of the pie goes to the Broad, over patent rival University of California, Berkeley.

A hammock-canoe drawing, U.S. Patent No. 299,951, is displayed in a June 1884 publication of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va. Critics of the patent system say it's too easy for people to save a slew of semi-realistic ideas, then sue

National

Can Silly Patents Help Fight Frivolous Lawsuits?

2:00pm April 12, 2016

by Laura Sydell

Critics of the patent system say it's too easy for people to save a slew of semi-realistic ideas, then sue when a firm separately tries to make something similar. A new website fights fire with fire.

National

Supreme Court Weighs In On Raisins, Spider-Man And Hotel Registries

5:27pm June 22, 2015

by Brian Naylor

Rulings in the term's biggest cases, Obamacare and same-sex marriage, are still outstanding.

National

Google Experimenting With Patent Marketplace To Combat Trolls

6:12pm April 27, 2015

by Sam Sanders

Google will allow patent holders to "tell Google about patents they're willing to sell at a price they set." Tech firms have been targeted by "trolls" who own patents and charge them licensing fees.

How The Supreme Court Could Reshape The Tech Patent Landscape

1:41pm May 05, 2014

by Laura Sydell

A fight over patents is unfolding between Apple and Samsung in a California courtroom. But a case before the Supreme Court could change the concept of intellectual property in information technology.

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