Pfizer Pfail

Pfizer’s patent on Viagra was pulled in Canada earlier this month. They were caught gaming the patent system by not fully disclosing what the invention was. The point of patents is to get the invention out in the open so at the end of the 20 year monopoly, society has gained.

 I brazenly cheered this news because I have had to put up with obnoxious advertising for Viagra for years. But it doesn’t stop there. Anyone with an email account has probably gotten Viagra spam. Especially us middle aged men. The third thing that has really bothered me was all the comment spam I get from this blog site. You are only too right in thinking that Viagra has spammed this site, almost from the very start, and often. So much so it made my comment blacklist at a very early date.

 So I am pleased to see Viagra earning less money. I am pleased to see Pfizer punished. But in all my cheering I forgot one thing.

 Now there are going to be 3 companies making generic Viagra. We are now going to see advertisements for Niagra. We are going to have more spam in our inboxes thanks to Viagara. Viagara Falls will flow into my comment spam causing a delayed reaction by me in blacklisting it. So for weeks or months I will have to wade through more spam until I figure out which companies are selling the generic Viagra with less obvious names than plays on the name Niagara.

 What most disturbs me about this case was that Pfizer won in two lower courts with such an obvious ruse. They probably paid for the best lawyers to extend their product’s monopoly to near the end of its term. So welcome to Canada where only 2 out of every 3 courts are crooked.