Chapter 55

American lawyers generally send legal letters by mail, as this provides direct evidence that they have done their work. However, some lawyers prefer to deliver the letters in person, perhaps out of a perverse pleasure in seeing the look of despair on the recipient's face.

However, Baldwin was destined to be disappointed. He saw not a trace of frustration, despair, or anger on Hu Wenhai's face, only a calm demeanor.

"These unreasonable Chinese." Baldwin complained to himself, just like the old guys in Chinatown. If everyone were like this, the FBI's behavioral psychology experts would all starve on the streets.

"So, does Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory believe it has a certain share in the patent for sildenafil?"

"Yes, my client believes that the clinical trials for the development of sildenafil also constitute a part, and thus claims at least a 51% share of the patent."

"Although I'm not very familiar with American law," Hu Wenhai rolled his eyes and said, "Mr. Baldwin, do you think the court will recognize such a claim? If such a case were to pass, major hospitals in the United States would become the largest and undisputed shareholders of pharmaceutical companies."

"Uh—ah—" Baldwin was speechless when asked by Hu Wenhai. As a well-known patent lawyer in New York, he knew very well that the court would never support such a claim—anyone who dared to rule on such a case would be waiting for their license to be revoked by the Supreme Court!

However, American law is a sophisticated and highly specialized field, far more complex than it appears on the surface. Thinking that having a patent means you can rest easy? Bell, IBM, and Microsoft are all watching you.

In simple terms, in the case of the blue pill, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory can first request the U.S. court to initiate a patent reexamination process. This starts with a unilateral reexamination, which can be initiated by anyone. Upon receiving such a request, the U.S. court must review the patent's creativity. If the patent is deemed to lack creativity, it can be declared invalid.

If this step fails, there's no need to worry; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory can still initiate a bilateral reexamination process. This involves a claim to the patent ownership by the interested party. After a series of adversarial proceedings, expert witness questioning, scheduling, trial dates, and limited evidence disclosure, the USPTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board will make a decision. This process typically takes at least a year.

Even so, it is significantly faster than the litigation process of several years in the past.

If, after the bilateral reexamination process, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory still does not give up, there is still a full litigation process, known as the post-grant review. Once involved in this process, legal proceedings can last for years, even decades, and cases that drag on until the patent expires are not uncommon.

But these are the unwritten rules. On the surface, there must be a plausible explanation. As a well-known patent lawyer in New York, Baldwin certainly had the eloquence and the thick skin to provide one, especially when dealing with a Chinese country bumpkin like Hu Wenhai.

"American law is vast and profound. We have rich experience and procedures to handle such situations. The sildenafil patent is a special error, not a case of general significance. According to the provisions of our patent law regarding patent invalidation, Article 91 already stipulates..."

Baldwin spouted a string of professional terms, some of which Hu Wenhai had never heard before. This was not surprising, as phonetic languages as second languages often have this problem. New vocabulary cannot be judged by their roots, making professional terms incomprehensible to the average person and greatly increasing the cost of defending one's rights.

"Given this, I, on behalf of my client, Dr. Watson, the president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, hereby submit a legal letter regarding the sildenafil patent. I hope we can reach an out-of-court settlement to save both parties time, effort, and money."

"Alright, I will consider it carefully." Hu Wenhai took the legal letter that Baldwin handed over with both hands, but his expression showed that he didn't take the letter seriously.

Ha, foolish Chinese, you will pay for your contempt.

Baldwin, far from being angry at Hu Wenhai's casual attitude towards the legal document, felt genuinely relieved. After all, from various perspectives, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory was making trouble where there was none, and the success rate of this case was virtually suicidal. Baldwin chose the most aggressive approach because he saw that the other party was Chinese and had not even obtained a U.S. permanent resident green card.

A cautious opponent is certainly less desirable than an ignorant one for Baldwin.

"Since that's the case, we'll see each other at the firm in a week." Hu Wenhai, having openly broken with Cold Spring Harbor, put away the legal letter and walked out decisively.

Andrew and Baldwin did not see him out; they just watched Hu Wenhai leave the meeting room and then sat back down to discuss the next steps in the patent case.

Hu Wenhai didn't expect them to see him out anyway. After all, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory was not a military restricted area, and there were often visitors who came to tour the facility.

However, just as he walked a short distance from the meeting room door, a figure suddenly appeared in the corridor ahead. Just by the sound of the high heels tapping on the floor, Hu Wenhai's mind quickly sketched out a pair of long, slender, and fair legs.

"Miss Yulia, what a coincidence." No matter how hostile Hu Wenhai was towards Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, he still had some gentlemanly manners and wouldn't be rude to a woman.

"I think we can use 'Davarysh' in our conversation, don't you think?" Yulia winked at Hu Wenhai playfully, stepped back, pushed open the door to her office, and gestured for him to enter.

Hu Wenhai was taken aback. Davarysh means comrade, but for Yulia, a Soviet, to use this term with him was out of place. In this era, China and the Soviet Union were still calling each other revisionists. China had just defeated the Soviet Union's staunch ally in East Asia, Vietnam, and both sides had a million troops stationed on the northern border. There was nothing comradely about it.

However, for some reason, Hu Wenhai felt an inexplicable closeness to Yulia today and followed her into her office as if in a trance.

"The production design for sildenafil is almost complete. I think in another one or two weeks, we should be able to finalize the design and start mass production."

As she spoke, Yulia was not sitting in her chair but on her desk, facing Hu Wenhai. Her long legs were crossed, and they dangled in front of him, white and bare.

"By the way," Yulia seemed to remember something, took a blue pill from her pocket, and asked with a smile, "This is your medicine. Have you tried it?"

Hu Wenhai felt a surge of blood and heat in his body, swallowed hard, and laughed lightly, shaking his head. "Yulia... Davarysh, do you really think I know nothing about my own medicine?"

"You didn't answer my question." Yulia jumped off the desk, walked up to him with a clacking sound, and looked into Hu Wenhai's eyes again. "Have you used it? Your cute little blue pill?"

"My age doesn't require it." Hu Wenhai felt the heat in his body intensify, frowned, and took a step back, putting some distance between himself and Yulia.

"It seems you really know it well." Yulia's eyes twinkled with a smile.

"Cough, cough—"

Hu Wenhai pretended to cough. In this life, he had never tried the blue pill. However, before his rebirth, he had married a university graduate at the age of forty. Men, after all, never admit defeat.

"Alright, Yulia Davarysh, as a biochemist, you should know that amyl nitrite is not harmless—"

Hu Wenhai cut to the chase: "Although you covered it with perfume, I had a physical reaction just from a whiff. You must be feeling even worse. I advise you to deal with it quickly, or the number of people who die from hemolysis due to this substance is not small."

Yulia's face changed, and she hurriedly ran into a small washroom in the office. Soon, the sound of running water could be heard.

Hu Wenhai couldn't help but laugh. Born and raised in China, he had only heard of amyl nitrite but never seen it. However, as someone who could recite the molecular formula of sildenafil at a glance, it was not surprising that he connected his physical reaction to the famous amyl nitrite.

As for what amyl nitrite is, well, that's a topic for another time.

"Alright, let's be straightforward, Davarysh." When Yulia came out of the washroom, her wet hair was tied back, and her damp shirt clung to her body, perfectly outlining her figure.

Whether due to the amyl nitrite or the situation, Hu Wenhai had to bend slightly to maintain his composure.

"I can help you solve the problem with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, but I want that photo!"