A number of research universities and related organizations are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to buck the wishes of the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government in a widely watched patent case to be heard by the court on April 20.
The institutions, which include the University of California system, the foundation that manages patents for the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the American Council on Education, say that if the court rules for the drug industry, many of the patents that universities now hold could lose value or become worthless.
Quoted: Andy Cohn, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation,