In the United States , if the federal government or one of its contractors infringes a patent , the only remedy available to patent holders is a lawsuit in the Court of Federal Claims . It is the policy of the U.S. Department of Defense to allow contractors to infringe patents and to defend the contractor against patent infringement claims at Government expense . Use of this provision by agencies other than Department of Defense is rare . During the 2001 anthrax attacks through the US Postal Service , the US Government threatened to issue a compulsory license for the antibiotic drug ciprofloxacin , if the patent owner , Bayer , did n't lower the price to the government . Bayer lowered the price and the government backed down on the threat
2001 anthrax attacks
2001 anthrax attacks
Compulsory license