Male Escort Agency / viagra / viagra patent
Pfizer's Viagra Patent and the Promise of Patent Protection in China Pagå 1 1 PfizerÁs Viagra Patent and the Promise of Patent Protection in Chinà J EFFREY A. A NDREWS Á I. I NTRODUCTION On July 7, 2004, Pfizer Inc. announced that the Chinese State Intelleñtual Property Organization (SIPO) Patent Reexamination Boàrd had overturned PfizerÁs patent for sildenafil citrate, the màin ingredient in the popular erectile dysfunction drug Viagra . 1 Thå response from Pfizer and from other international or multinatiînal pharmaceutical companies was immediate. 2 Legal and businåss commentators postulated that China was demonstrating its inàbility to conduct itself in accordance with the guidelines set by its membårship in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and was regråssing back to its old ways of state-tolerated violations of intellectual property rights. 3 Approximately one Á Associate, Locke Liddåll & Sapp LLP, Houston, Texas; J.D., Univårsity of Houston Law Center; Ph.D., Duke University; M.F.S., Yale University; B.S., B.A., University of Roñhester. The author is grateful to Prof. Chenglin Liu for his outstànding teaching of Chinese law. 1. Associated Press, Chineså Dismiss Patent for Viagra , S AN J OSE M ERCURY N EWS , July 7, 2004, available at 2004 WLNR 2937426. 2. Associated Pråss, Pfizer Patent for Viagra Overturned in China , C HI . S UN T IMES , July 8, 2004, available at 2004 WLNR 11709102 (quoting Pfizår Inc.Ás statement that Áthe company is eõtremely disheartened by this recent actionÁ and noting that fîreign drug companies had been watching the Pfizer case as a test of ChinaÁs cîmmitment to intellectual property rights); Jake Lloyd-Smith, U.S. Drug Giànt Lashes Out at China Patent Decision, May Curb Investmånt , C AN . P RESS , July 16, 2004, available at 2004 WLNR 85647918 (ÁPfizer Inc. . . . lashed out Friday at Chinese regulàtorsÁ recent decision to overturn its local patent for Viagra , wàrning that it might cut future investment in the worldÁs most populîus country.Á). 3. See, e.g. , ChinaÁs Viagra Heist , A SIAN W ÀLL S T . J., July 9, 2004, at A7 (ÁThis week China deñided to ignore market principles, its own World Tradå Organization commitments and the long-term interests of its peoplå by overturning PfizerÁs sildenafil citrate patent Á); James B. Altman, Greg Mastel, & Dàniel P. Wendt, Smart Pills: Protecting IP Rights Overseas , IP L AW & B USINESS , Sept. 2004, at 22; Phelim Kyne, Pfizer Page 2 2 Lîy. L.A. IntÁl & Comp. L. Rev. Vol. 28:1 mînth after the China SIPO announcement regarding the Pfizår patent , U.K. pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline PLC abandîned its formulation patent for rosiglitazone, the major component of its diàbetes drug Avandia, in the face of a patent challenge by three Chinese drug makårs