As Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s Copaxone (glatiramer) patent dispute with Sandoz Inc. heads to the Supreme Court this week, the biopharmaceutical industry is largely standing on the sidelines. Biopharm associations and individual drug makers did not file amicus briefs in the case. Instead, the technology industry jumped into the debate on the side of Sandoz.
While the case centers on Copaxone’s manufacturing process patent, the question before the court pertains to all patents: Should the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit defer to...