Debunking the Evergreening Patents Myth

Abstract

"Evergreening" is a pejorative term used to refer to the practice of extending the length of patent protection beyond the statutory term of 20 years, most often used in the context of pharmaceutical patents. Although drug companies do engage in creative strategies to maintain sales levels for as long as possible, criticisms of evergreening are largely overstated. In fact (with relatively reasonable exceptions), patents generally cannot be renewed or extended. In the vast majority of cases, so-called "evergreening" will only be a successful strategy to the extent that consumers can be persuaded to purchase the newer, pricier, patented version of a product rather than the older, cheaper, unpatented one.

Keywords: patents, drug, pharmaceutical, evergreen