Jump to full article: Associated Press (AP), 2000-10-02
Intro: The Supreme Court refused to block the marketing of a generic chewing gum to help smokers give up cigarettes, rejecting an appeal in which the maker of Nicorette gum said the marketing violated its copyright.
The justices, acting without comment on Monday, let stand rulings that let Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. sell the generic gum over the objections of Smithkline Beecham Consumer Healthcare, which has made and sold Nicorette gum since 1984.
At issue was how federal Food and Drug Administration regulations affect Smithkline's labeling copyrights. Lower courts said the copyright could not be enforced against a company required by the FDA to mimic Nicorette' s labeling. . .
Over-the-counter sales of the gum were approved in 1996 after exhaustive negotiations over the product's labeling -- a term that extends beyond packaging to include a user' s guide and an audiotape.
Smithkline' s exclusive right to market the over-the-counter version of Nicorette gum expired in 1999. . .
Watson won FDA approval in 1999 and began marketing its generic gum, sparking a copyright-infringement lawsuit by Smithkline.
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