Intellectual Property

Free Viagra

Copyright free, that is. There must be a lot of cadres out there struggling to get it up.

Last week, the Financial Times reported:

Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceuticals company, faced increased competition in China after Beijing yesterday overturned its domestic patent for the main ingredient in Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug. Pfizer said it would appeal against the ruling.
.

The China Daily explains:

The China State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has declared the patent for Viagra ... as invalid in China because it doesn't conform with Article 26 of China's Patent Law...

...In accordance with the law, a company applying for a patent must provide a description of the drug "in a manner sufficiently clear and complete so as to enable a person skilled in the relevant field" to understand the drug...

...In a statement concerning the ruling, Pfizer Inc said it will appeal the board's announcement on Viagra (active ingredient sildenafil).

The decision by SIPO's Patent Reexamination Board overturns the sildenafil-use patent issued in China in September 2001, the company said in the statement...

...Many domestic companies opposed the patent because drugs produced by some Chinese companies had already been using the active ingredient of Viagra in drugs, Sina.com.cn news reported.

The FT story is here (subscription required), the China Daily story is here.

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
AXL091030storiesforthcoming.jpg
Princess Der Ling: Two Years in the Forbidden City: Two years in the Forbidden City is largely a reminiscence of the minutiae of life for one of history's most powerful women, by one of her court attendants, a Manchu noble's daughter by the name of Der Ling.
Carl Crow's The Long Road Back to China: In 1939 Carl Crow - an American journalist, advertising executive and author who had lived in Shanghai for 25 years until forced out by the Japanese - travelled up the Burma Road from Rangoon to Chongqing on assignment for Liberty magazine - 'the most interesting assignment I have ever been given'.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12)
+ The horrors of SMS messaging (2007.09): Naraka 19 (地狱第19层), based on the Cai Jun (蔡骏) novel, gets neutered by SARFT.
+ China's illegal yellow press (2005.05): On the left is the front page of 'Military News', a newspaper without masthead, contact phone number or any kind of publication licence (required by Chinese law). The paper was purchased on the Beijing subway for two yuan, which is relatively expensive, as most of the city's daily newspapers cost only half a yuan.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30