Coverage, Courts And Congress: News In Brief
Executive Summary
Congress again seeks to restrict reverse settlements: Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., proposed an amendment to a tax bill that would amend the Federal Trade Commission Act so that agreements between brand and generic companies to settle patent infringement claims are presumed to have anticompetitive effects if the ANDA filer receives anything of value and agrees to limit or forgo research, development or sales of its product. The presumption shall not apply if the parties "demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that the precompetitive benefits of the agreement outweigh the anticompetitive effects of the agreement." Kohl introduced the amendment, SA 4332, on June 9 for inclusion in the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, H.R. 4213. Legislators had previously pushed for a similar amendment to render such deals illegal in the health care reform bill (1"The Pink Sheet," March 22, 2010)