In What Might Be Thought Of As A "Nuisance Value" Patent Payment...

. . .over the weekend, Kenilworth apparently agreed to pay a waifish one time amount to a patent estate managing bio-science company with its HQ in Incline Village, Nevada. [That tells you something. Grin.]

The fact that it is less than $20 million, paid once only, and grants Merck perpetual freedom from nonsense value suits filed against pembrolizumab patents, tells us much about the context, here. Merck would spend that much, in all likelihood, should a trial and appeal occur -- so all Merck has done here is avoid paying more legal fees, by simply and cheaply buying peace with the so-called Queen patent-holder (which PDL apparently itself acquired from a third party). From Yahoo! News:

. . . .Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will pay the Company a one time, lump-sum payment of $19.5 million, and the Company will grant Merck a fully paid-up, royalty free, non-exclusive license to certain of the Company's Queen et al. patent rights for use in connection with Keytruda as well as a covenant not to sue Merck for any royalties regarding Keytruda. In addition, the parties agreed to dismiss all claims in the relevant legal proceedings. . . .

So Kenilworth made one payment of something well-shy of one half of one per cent of its likely 2017 sales of this product -- to close PDL out. And with that, we are back at full-speed! Baby-Face grinning, on a sunny Monday. . . . Onward!

UPDATED: Signal acquired. Smile. Now you know -- sunny and crisp here -- still awaiting signal acquisition from Cassini, after her bend around Titan for the final time -- yes, that lil' "shepherd moon-lette" I've grown so fond of. Smile.

नमस्ते