Pay-to-delay

A technique for settling patent disputes, increasingly common in the United States (where it is the subject of litigation), whereby the owner of a pharmaceutical patent pays generic drug makers not to challenge the patent's validity. The patent owner can therefore continue to exploit the patent, but shares the proceeds with the generic manufacturer. Controversial because of the anti-competitive effects of such an arrangement (see also no-challenge clause, in the main work) and the fact that cheap generics are kept off the market by means of a patent that may be invalid but enjoys a presumption that it is valid until the contrary is proved.