Over the past six years, the world’s pharmaceutical companies have been faced with new and steadily increasing trademark troubles. Their difficulties began on May 12, 1993, when the World Health Assembly announced resolution WHA 46.19. [FOOTNOTE 1]
This resolution was intended to end the confusion caused by the marketing of generic drugs under trademarks and brand names derived from the drugs’ international nonproprietary names. Such use could “compromise the safety of patients by creating confusion in prescribing and dispensing medicines and by interfering with the orderly development of nomenclature for international nonproprietary names.” [FOOTNOTE 2]
