Look at the subject line for this thread. The inventor was granted *two* US patents. The effectivity was spelled out in each of them. The message I was responding to had links to the US Patent Office web site and a university research abstract. I fail to see the grand conspiracy.
I think you are confusing free speech with everyone-agreeing-with-everything-you-say. And, for those of you who missed civics class, free speech applies to political dissent against the federal government, not bickering over privately funded medical research.