Managing Disputes in the Life Sciences

Innovation is fraught with dispute, and the life sciences are no exception. Academics fall out with their industry sponsors and with one another, joint ventures fail, competitors steal trade secrets and infringe patents, and experimental drugs fail after years of research and substantial investment. However, very few disputes are litigated, and far fewer, only about 1–2% of lawsuits filed in the United States, result in a judgment on the merits. In most instances, litigation is a poor option for technology companies. It is inherently slow, expensive, complex, and uncertain even under the best of circumstances. For instance, in patent cases alleging infringement in England and Wales, there is a 41.8% chance an asserted patent will be revoked, and an even smaller chance it will be found valid and infringed. Getting to this unhappy result for claimants usually takes more than a year and costs more than a million dollars.

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Nature Biotechnology