Supreme Court of the United States: BRIEF OF THE BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION AS AMICUS CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF NEITHER PARTY

摘要

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) is the principal trade association representing the biotechnology industry both domestically and abroad. BIO has more than eleven hundred members, including businesses, biotechnology centers, and academicinstitutions. BIO's members range from Fortune 500 companiesto research universities and small start-up companies. Approximately 90% of BIO's corporate members have annual revenues under 25 million dollar. In developing modern biotechnological products,BIO's members depend on generating, developing, patenting, licensing, and selling scientific innovations. As a result, the maintenance of a stable commercial system that, consistent with the patent system's goal of promoting science, permits the imposition of valid conditions on the sale and licensing of patented products is critical to the industry. BIO thus has a substantial interest in this Court's resolution of the patent exhaustion question, and BIO can provide unique insights on the operation of the patent exhaustion doctrine in practice and its impact on the rapidly growing biotechnology industry.