US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has taken a Chinese pharmaceutical company to court over infringing its copyright for its erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, state media reported Friday.
The case against Guangzhou Welman pharmaceutical company was heard in a Beijing court on Thursday but a verdict was not delivered immediately, the Beijing News reported.
No one at Pfizer's China office was immediately available to comment on Friday.
The legal action comes after New York-based Pfizer won a court ruling upholding its China patent for Viagra in June.
Pfizer had originally obtained a Chinese patent license for Viagra in 2001.
However the country's patent review board, the State Intellectual Property Office, revoked the license in July 2004 following complaints by 12 Chinese pharmaceutical companies.
In delivering its ruling, the patent review board claimed Pfizer was in breach of intellectual property law because it failed to accurately explain the uses of the pill's key ingredient, sildenafil citrate.
But the Beijing Intermediate court ruling in June reversed the review board's verdict.
The Chinese drug companies from various cities around the country claim to have invested over 100 million yuan ($12m) in less expensive imitations of the little blue pill.
Labels: No Prescription, Online Pharmacy, Prescription Drugs
# posted by Network @ 12:04 PM
