Legal Fire

A US federal court has held that abstract software patents do not deserve protection. Accordingly it has removed patent protection of 4 software patents of Hewlett Packard.

Cipla  successfully opposed the grant of a patent to Boehringer for Tiotropium Bromide Monohydrate branded as Spiriva.This is utilized in inhalers.The patent was successfully opposed on the basis that it did not enhance therapeutic efficacy.

The agreements related to payment of royalty fees beyond the life of a patent are banned in the US.The US Supreme Court has been petitioned to overturn this law.However the possibility of that happening is low and that is rightly so because the fundamental objective of patenting is social and economic development.Benefits to the patentee cannot be the one and only objective of the patenting process.