•  
  •  
 

Abstract

The author argues that it is important to distinguish between genuinely innovative 'Black Swans', and swans that are painted black, referring to the increasingly common practice of making cosmetic or insignificant modifications to existing innovations in order to obtain or extend patent protection. This, the author argues, is especially significant in the pharmaceutical sector, since experience has shown beyond any doubt that a substantial portion of its revenues emanate from incremental inventions as opposed to Black Swans. This is not likely to change either, given the steadily widening gulf between investment in and return from research and development in the industry. The author goes on to identify a concrete mechanism that is conducive to this process of weeding out Black Swans from the impostors - pre-grant opposition strategy, and argues that its merits far outweigh any possible delay in the process of the grant of patents.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.