Czarina Abigail D.

Fortun BSAT III

Case 1

Abbott Laboratories lawsuit (re Brazil patent law & access to medicines)

A. Facts - Abbott Laboratories (Abbott) holds the patent on lopinavir and ritonavir (lop/r) an
important drug used in the treatment of HIV.

B. Issue - Brazilian NGOs have criticised this patent because its existence meant the Brazilian
Government could only purchase Abbott’s patented, more expensive version of lop/r for use in
its public HIV/AIDS treatment programme. Cristália, a Brazilian pharmaceutical company that
produces a generic version of lop/r, brought a lawsuit against Abbott Laboratories seeking to
annul its patent on Kaletra. Cristália argued that the patent was granted under the “pipeline
mechanism”, which allowed revalidation of patents granted in other countries (in this case the
US) while Brazil’s patent legislation was being amended.

C. Court Ruling - Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro granted Cristália’s request to annul Abbott’s
patent on the grounds that the pipeline process was unconstitutional. This decision allows
access to cheaper, generic versions of lop/r, such as the drug produced by Cristália which costs
47% less than Abbott’s drug. Abbott filed an appeal and requested an injunction to prevent the
enforcement of the court’s ruling. On 23 March 2012, the Federal Regional Court of the second
circuit of Rio rejected Abbott’s request for an injunction.

D. Opinion – For me, it is rightfully just to annul the patent of the medicine for HIV under the
name “kaletra”, aside from it is an important drug used in the treatment for HIV, it can help the
government to provide drugs that is cheaper and accessible to those who are suffering from
HIV.

Case 2
Philip Morris Brasil, Souza Cruz lawsuit (re Brazil)

A. Facts – ADESF filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Philip Morris Brasil and Souza Cruz.

B. Issue - Philip Morris Brasil and Souza Cruz (part of British American Tobacco) had made
misleading statements in their advertising and omitted information they knew about smoking’s
harmful effects, resulting in illnesses and death amongst the plaintiffs and their families.

C. Court Ruling- the court ruled that the defendants had failed to show that smoking cigarettes
was neither addictive nor harmful to human health. The court ordered the defendants to pay
R$1000 for moral and material damages to every current and former smoker of the defendants’
products in Brazil – a total of R$30 billion (US$ 18.4 billion). The defendants appealed the
decision. On 12 November 2008, the São Paulo Court of Appeal overturned the lower court’s
decision.

D. Opinion – Insufficient information advertised by Philip Morris Brasil is against the law.
There is what we call Tobacco Control Act, it has created new requirements for warnings for
cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, both on the products themselves and on any advertising for
the product – including advertisements in retail stores. Cigarette packages and cigarette
advertising must contain specific textual warnings. The law also requires the FDA to create
warnings that graphically depict the dangers of cigarette smoking, and it created new text
warnings for smokeless tobacco packages and advertising. So,

Case 3
PA Child Care lawsuits (re "kids for cash" scandal)
A. Facts - US prosecutors charged former Pennsylvania judges, Mark Ciavarella Jr. of the
Luzerne County Juvenile Court and Michael Conahan of the Luzerne County Court of Common
Pleas, with fraud and tax evasion in connection with receiving $2.6 million in kickbacks in
return for sending teenage offenders to two privately-run juvenile facilities – PA Child Care and
Western PA Child Care. The judges allegedly accepted money from Robert Powell and Robert
Mericle, co-owners of the juvenile detention facilities, in return for imposing harsh sentences
on juveniles brought before their courts and ensuring that juvenile offenders were sent to PA
Child Care facilities.

B. Issue - A federal grand jury returned a 48-count indictment against the judges, including
racketeering, extortion, bribery, money laundering, fraud and tax violations. Judge Ciavarella
was accused of routinely depriving youth defendants of their right to counsel and ordering
teenage offenders into detention even when probation officers did not recommend it.

C. Court Ruling - . Judge Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in prison and was ordered to pay
$1.17 million in restitution. Judge Conahan was sentenced to 17 years in prison. In May 2013,
a US appeals court upheld all but one of the convictions of Mark Ciavarella. Robert Mericle,
pleaded guilty to failing to disclose to the grand jury that he paid $2.15 million to the judges to
secure their backing for the PA Child Care facilities. In April 2014, Robert Mericle was
sentenced to one year in prison, received a $250,000 fine and was ordered to perform 100
hours of community service.

D. Opinion – Children being tossed into for-profit youth centers is a big NO. It is really painful
for their families, they had suffered not being together and this could make them (judges)
happy because they know they can earn money from it.