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PFIZER WINS VIAGRA TRADEMARK CASE IN CHINA

January 2, 2007

A Beijing court has ordered the three Chinese drugmakers to pay a $38,000 fine, apologize publicly and stop making counterfeit versions of Pfizer's blockbuster drug Viagra, a Pfizer spokesman said.

Pfizer representative Bryant Haskins said the company won a trademark case in China blocking drugmakers from making pharmaceutical products that look like the blue, diamond-shaped impotence drug.

"They were convicted of reproducing the diamond-shaped Viagra look. They had to pull it off the market," Haskins said. The drug manufacturers must print a public apology in a Chinese newspaper, he said.

The fake product did not contain the patented active ingredient in Viagra and therefore it is not considered to be a generic equivalent, Haskins said. He said the ruling demonstrated the seriousness with which the Chinese government considers the rights of companies with a patented product.

"We believe that court decision is a strong indication that the Chinese government is moving in the right direction to protect intellectual property rights for innovators making or selling products in China," Haskins said.