Generic-drug company Mylan NV has fired back at rival Allergan PLC’s attempt to shield its top-selling eye drug from competition by transferring the patents to an Indian tribe.

Allergan last month sold patents for its Restasis dry-eye drug to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in upstate New York. Allergan said its aim was to avoid the “double jeopardy” of defending Restasis patents in both federal court and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The tribe’s sovereign status would exempt it from cases before the patent office.

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