Re: Unconstitutional? (Score 5, Informative)

Actually, Article I, Sec. 8 of the Constitution gives Congress authority to grant patents and copyrights. However, it is not specifically denied to the states - it is up to Congress, under the Supremacy Clause, to decide whether to allow states to regulate the same areas. For example, states had independent copyright laws until the 1970s, until Congress took that power away. With that said, it's a meaningless issue here, as the Federal government has in fact blocked parallel state rulemaking regarding patents.

However, the doctrine of sovereign immunity and the 11th amendment make it hard to prosecute state governments for patent or copyright infringement. So a statewide agency could just start making patented drugs, and it would be hard to stope them