Justices consider appeals court’s second guessing in patent cases

By Sam Hananel Associated Press writer

Posted October 16, 2014 2:18 PM

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court seems divided as it mulls a high-stakes patent dispute between rival pharmaceutical companies over the world’s best-selling multiple sclerosis treatment. Justices heard arguments Wednesday in a case that threatens to cut into the profits of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which sells $4 billion annually of the drug Copaxone. Teva claims the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit wrongly overturned five of its patents for the drug. That 2013 …

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