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from the fighting-against-the-tide-is-tiring dept.
TechDirt reports
[...] The past few USPTO directors had been cut from the "more patents is always a good thing" mold, whereas Lee actually recognized that bad patents harmed innovation. And even though the last time the Patent Office got concerned about bad patents it allowed the patent approval backlog to fill up, under Lee the backlog has reached its lowest point in a decade.[paywall]
[...] For all the craziness going on in the government right now, having competent leadership at the USPTO would be one less thing to worry about. But... now it's being reported that Lee has suddenly resigned and sent a goodbye email to staff. That's bad news on the patent front.
Of course, it may be ages before any new director is appointed. As I type this, of the 559 key positions requiring Senate confirmation, Trump hasn't even named a nominee for 431 of them. [...] Adding the new USPTO director to that pile may mean no new USPTO director for.... who the hell knows how long.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday June 07 2017, @06:08PM (1 child)
(1) Greed.
(2) Broken market, particularly with various middlemen (insurers, pharmacies, etc.) negotiating prices rather than consumers comparing them.
(3) Issues with generic approval (ensuring quality control for generics, additional testing required by FDA in some circumstances, etc.).
(4) For less common drugs, manufacturing a generic may not scale well. So after patent expiration you may still be looking at the original manufacturer or maybe one primary generic manufacturer who can manipulate price.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday June 08 2017, @10:26AM
Market failure and regulatory capture, then.
Not reasons to oppose the existence of drug patents.