Series III. Tetracycline Litigation Files, 1956-1985, undated

Between 1956 and 1982, tetracycline was the subject of extensive and long running litigation, particularly in the United States. Shortly after the patent for tetracycline was assigned to Charles Pfizer & Company, Incorporated, several pharmaceutical companies, including American Cynamid Company, challenged it on the grounds that their own scientists had discovered tetracycline before Lloyd H. Conover, even though they filed their patent applications after his. In response to this, Pfizer licensed tetracycline to its competitors. Beginning in 1958, the United States government challenged both the licensing agreement and the validity of the tetracycline patent. The legality of the tetracycline licensing agreement between Pfizer and its competitors was affirmed in 1976. The validity of Pfizer's tetracycline patent was affirmed in 1982. Over the course of the legal proceedings, Conover was frequently called upon to serve as an expert witness.

Arranged alphabetically by subject, this series contains Lloyd H. Conover's legal files pertaining to the tetracycline litigation. The files in this series primarily document tetracycline litigation in the United States as it played out before the Federal Trade Commission and various federal courts. A small amount of material regarding tetracycline legislation in the United Kingdom is also present in this series. To a limited extent, Conover's personal involvement in the tetracycline litigation is documented here as well.

Legal documents constitute the largest portion of the materials in the Tetracycline Litigation Files. Smaller amounts of correspondence, testimony transcripts, court reporter pages, notes, and magazine articles are also found in this series. A report and a questionnaire are found here as well.