But intellectual property is inherently more arbitrary. After all, what are markets other than forums for trading ownership of things of value? When it comes to physical goods and land, property rights are usually fairly intuitive. Without clear property rights, capitalism and the modern economy could not exist. Shore hopes to negotiate more deals for the tribe and is already talking to several other Native American nations about doing the same for them. In the deal Shore brokered, the tribe agreed to lease the patent back to Allergan, exclusively, for a fee of fifteen million dollars a year (plus $13.75 million up front). Allergan stood to lose a monopoly worth more than a billion dollars a year, and didn’t need much convincing that cutting a deal with the tribe would be far cheaper than fighting claims in inter partes review. He looked first at some software firms, but then came across Allergan: patents for its drug Restasis were being challenged by companies, such as Mylan and Teva, that hoped to manufacture generics. Next, Shore needed to find a non-sovereign patent holder. A quick trip to the New York reservation got the tribe on board. Regis Mohawk Tribe member who was a prominent attorney and might better understand Shore’s idea. The Coushatta weren’t interested, but they mentioned a St. He called the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe-as a kid, growing up in East Texas, he had visited a Coushatta-run campground. He didn’t know much about Native American tribes, but he knew they were often in need of money. Shore set about looking for a suitable sovereign. If he could broker such deals, everybody-patent owners, sovereign entities, and Shore himself-could make millions. By Shore’s calculation, transferring a patent from a non-sovereign entity to a sovereign one would increase its value anywhere from four to ten times over. Third, a patent held by a sovereign entity therefore had a greater effective value than the same patent held by an institution subject to the new procedure. Second, the law was written in such a way that it didn’t apply to sovereign entities, such as foreign countries, U.S. First, a streamlined procedure would encourage many more challenges. Then, in 2012, Congress passed the America Invents Act, which created a streamlined procedure, known as “inter partes review,” for the adjudication of patent challenges by the U.S. The business opportunity fell into their lap, thanks to an intellectual-property lawyer in Texas named Michael Shore.įor years, Shore had a successful practice representing patent holders, mostly universities, whose intellectual property had been infringed upon. No tribe members were involved in designing these products. Soon, tribal leaders say, they will have a small portfolio of patents, covering other medicines and also computer software and hardware. It has become the owner of six patents for Restasis, a drug for dry-eye syndrome that is the second-highest-selling product of the pharmaceutical company Allergan. Regis Mohawk Tribe acquired a major new source of revenue. Regis Mohawk Reservation’s income comes from a casino, but its revenues have lately flattened, and the unemployment rate on the reservation is twice that of Franklin County, which abuts it and is itself one of the poorest parts of the state. border with Canada, and most of its residents are citizens of both countries, as well as of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne, a territory that includes land on the Canadian side of the border. Regis Mohawk Reservation, in upstate New York, sits at the U.S.
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