1. they'd already licensed it, so the patent holders are already compromising 2.patents are really not that long..5yrs? 20 yrs? nothing like life+99 or whatever

1. they'd already licensed it, so the patent holders are already compromising 2.patents are really not that long..5yrs? 20 yrs? nothing like life+99 or whatever it is for copyright.. 3.because patents are relatively short lived the pharma firms have to turn up "hits" which have to pay for all the other misses.. i'm guessing they would really rather market+brand their existing products than invent new ones if the protection they get from patents start to get eroded..not sure thats a good thing..