Drug companies operate a little differently, a drug is patented and once the patent has run out it becomes part of the public domain where other companies then step in and the we get our generics. However a company can rebrand a drug for a different indication to then "extend" their hold on things. This happened with the antidepressant Prozac, it was rebranded as Sarafem which is use for Premenstrual Dysphoria Disorder. Zyban and Wellbutrin is another example.
"Personally, I think he stole this idea from someone and bought the patents...everyone on the buying side knows this and have basically blacklisted him, which is why this has never been anything but hype."....
I would agree with this statement 100000%. This is why I think someone need to step up to the plate and redo this the right way going through all the proper channels and being that transparent company that we are all dreaming about. I know this came be done I personally do not know where to start but the vision is there.
Patentability
An invention can be patented if it is novel. Even if something similar exists, an invention is patentable if the elements in it are not obvious. For example, cameras and cell phones are known technologies. However, the combination of the two was once not obvious. Even though cell phone cameras are similar to other cameras, they appear in a combination that was not obvious .
Public Domain
A product can be similar to another product without violating patent laws if elements in the first product are based upon patents that have expired. For example, there are many similar preparations of Lisinopril, a drug commonly used to treat hypertension. None of these drugs violates a patent law because the original patent for Lisinopril has long since expired. Under these conditions, the invention is in the public domain.
Similar but Different
Products can be similar without violating patent laws if the inventions that underlie both products are different. For example, computers by Apple share similarities to computers by Dell. However, the individual elements that make up an Apple are sufficiently different from the elements that make up a Dell. RAID systems provide another excellent example. A RAID system is a type of memory used in large servers. There are hundreds of different patents for RAID systems, each configured differently.
