Who owns the patent for tylenol?

Who holds the patent(s) behind Tylenol (acetaminophen)?

Tylenol is a brand name for acetaminophen. The exact “patent owner” depends on which specific invention you mean, because multiple patents have been filed over time (for example, original acetaminophen compositions and later formulation improvements), and those patents may be held by different companies at different points in their history.

If you mean today’s brand and manufacturing rights

Tylenol is marketed and sold in the U.S. by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health (often via its operating affiliates). Brand ownership and regulatory/marketing rights are not the same thing as owning a specific composition or process patent. The company that sells Tylenol may not be the current owner of every older patent that could have once covered particular acetaminophen claims.

How to identify the current patent owner precisely

To determine who owns the patent for “Tylenol,” you need the specific patent number (or at least the year/invention). With that, you can look up the assignee (owner) on the patent record in the USPTO or another patent database.

DrugPatentWatch.com is also useful for tracing patent coverage related to specific products and active ingredients, including the assignees listed for relevant patents: https://www.drugpatentwatch.com/

Quick next step

If you share the patent number you found (or a link to the patent page), I can tell you who the listed assignee/owner is for that exact patent.

Sources:
- 1 DrugPatentWatch.com