AstraZeneca -- Thumbs Up

Can a patent drug manufacturer prevent generic drug manufacturers from producing a drug based on an expired patent by taking out "related" patents?

On Friday, the SCC answered this question with a big "no."

That was the right call. The alternative would have been to eviscerate the time-limited nature of the patent, which would be a very bad idea indeed.

Case Comment of AstraZeneca Canada Inc. v. Canada (Minister of Health), 2006 SCC 49