patents
6 stories and discussions about patents, aggregated from every source we track.
Is this patent a sign of things to come?
A public, agent-readable atlas of patents covering graphical programs, formal specifications, and the compilers that lower them onto CPUs and programmable hardware.
Is this patent a sign of things to come?
The cost of healthcare in general is a debilitating, pre-existing condition for Americans. But the high prices of prescription drugs usually stand out as a pain point. While there are many insidious reasons why Americans pay more—often far more—for their medicines than people in peer countries, exploitation of the US patent system is an obvious one. A study published Monday in JAMA highlights just how much patent exploitation has grown since 1990. In that time, researchers found the number of patents on small-molecule drugs have more than tripled, going from an average of 2.1 patents per drug approved in 1990 to 6.9 for those approved in 2019. Most of the growth was in "nonprimary" patents—patents that generally aren't related to a drug's active ingredient, but are instead for things like minor tweaks to a drug's non-active ingredients, updates to the way the drug is used, or the design of specialty delivery devices, such as auto-injectors. Together, those extra patents on an individual drug can create what's called a "patent thicket," which delays the release of affordable generics on the market, keeping drug prices higher for longer without actual clinical advancements. Read full article Comments
Haptics tech company Taction sued Apple in 2021, alleging it infringed two of its patents. Now a federal jury in San Diego has awarded Taction over $5.7 billion in damages. According to CNBC , "The lawsuit centered around U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117, which both involve vibration-based, tactile transducer technology that helps users feel a device responding to their input." Taction argued that Apple's Taptic Engine in its Apple Watches and iPhones used technology that it had developed without a proper license, and the jury agreed. It found that Apple had infringed on two claims in one patent and one in the other. However, the j … Read the full story at The Verge.