Word: patentedly
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...hear its critics talk, W.R. Grace & Co., based in Boca Raton, Florida, is nothing less than a den of international pirates. Its crime: patenting a pesticide made from seeds of the Indian neem tree. "Genetic colonialism," thunders the self-proclaimed scientific watchdog Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, who is leading a coalition of 200 scientific, academic and farm organizations from 37 countries that filed a petition last week to have the patent revoked. Not only is Grace's pesticide based on an ancient and widely known extraction process, the coalition claims, but it will force Indian...
Well, yes and no. The truth is that Grace's U.S. patent has no effect in India, whose laws prohibit the patenting of agricultural products; Indian farmers are free to use neem seeds as they always have. Beyond that, Grace's patent may be upheld. The company found a way to treat traditional neem-seed extract to increase shelf life from weeks to years--just the sort of innovation patent laws cover. Even an environmentalist like Walt Reid of the World Resources Institute, based in Washington, admits, "I won't be surprised if the challenge doesn...
...committee recommends allowing scientists under research agreements a 30-day delay in the public release of their research. The delay would be useful in helping the firm and the scientist decide whether or not to seek a patent for innovative work done under the contract...
...reach an optimal leanness, then stop losing weight. The pattern of weight loss is also encouraging. For unlike extreme calorie restriction, which can weaken muscle, leptin appears to dissolve fat while leaving lean tissue intact. On the basis of such data, Amgen (which paid Rockefeller University $20 million for patent rights to make products based on the ob gene) has announced that it hopes to begin conducting human trials as early as next year...
...consumer's health and well-being are not, of course, the only factors at stake in these decisions. SmithKline lost its patent protection for Tagamet last year; Merck's exclusive rights to Pepcid end in 2000; and Glaxo's claim to Zantac expires in 2002. By law, any company that switches to an over-the-counter preparation of its product enjoys a three-year monopoly before other firms are allowed to manufacture a generic version. All three companies are planning to use the time to establish name recognition and brand loyalty among consumers...