Glaxo’s patent is for the use of the compound carvedilol to lessen the chance of death from congestive heart failure. The company claimed that Teva infringed the patent, even when it was selling its generic version of Coreg only for hypertension.
Teva began selling a generic version of the drug in 2007, when the main patent on it expired. Teva argued that it wasn’t responsible for the actions of doctors who prescribed the generic for congestive heart failure, because the doctors were acting based on knowledge of Coreg’s uses that they learned from Glaxo.
Glaxo argued that Teva marketed the generic version as being the same as Coreg, leading doctors to prescribe it for heart failure in violation of the patent. The patent expired in June 2015, but the June 2017 verdict was based on Teva’s sales of its generic before the patent expired.
In dissent, Circuit Judge Sharon Prost said Teva’s label specifically excluded hypertension in a practice known as a “skinny label” that Congress has said is exempt from infringement claims.
Shipping industry hit by two cyberattacks
Two key players in the global shipping industry are trying to restore computer networks and assess the damage from separate cyberattacks this week that are adding short-term complications to supply chains already straining ahead of peak season for consumer demand.
The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency that serves as the industry’s regulator, said Thursday that it suffered “a sophisticated cyber attack against the organization’s IT systems.” The breach affected its public website and internal systems, it said. The IMO’s Web page remained down Friday morning in London.
That attack followed a disclosure earlier this week by closely held CMA CGM, the world’s fourth-biggest container liner, that its information systems had been compromised. The Marseille, France-based company said Thursday that its offices were “gradually being reconnected to the network thus improving the bookings’ and documentation’s processing times.”
CMA CGM is among the world’s five leading container liners that account for 65 percent of global capacity, according to Alphaliner data.
There’s no evidence yet that the incidents are linked, but both disruptions are extensive and that possibility is being considered, according to a report by maritime intelligence service Lloyd’s List.
A rash of cyber-incidents has afflicted the shipping industry in recent years, the biggest of which was an intrusion that cost Copenhagen-based A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S about $300 million in 2017.
Ford’s third-quarter deliveries topped expectations on the strength of pickup truck demand as the overall industry surged close to a booming 17 million annual sales pace in September. The automaker’s sales fell 4.7 percent in the quarter, beating analysts’ estimates for a 6.7 percent decline on the strength of Ford’s best third quarter for pickup sales since 2005. Deliveries of F-Series trucks rose 3.5 percent, and Ranger sales increased by 8.2 percent. Industry-wide auto sales hit a pace of 16.8 million in September, the company said. The Michigan-based carmaker is predicting its first annual loss in a decade, partly because it is temporarily shutting two U.S. factories to retool.
Airbnb will prohibit one-night rentals over Halloween weekend as part of its ongoing effort to crack down on party houses. The action, announced Friday, comes nearly a year after a deadly shooting at an Airbnb in Orinda, Calif. Five people were killed in the shooting, which happened during an unauthorized Halloween party. Airbnb said it will ban one-night rentals of entire homes in the United States and Canada on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31. Previously booked one-night rentals will be canceled, and Airbnb will offer refunds.