Incorrect. It took several years to resolve, over which time the con artists at Schering-Plough (now Merck) stole several billion dollars from consumers, none of which has ever been reimbursed.

Several billion dollars isn't really that much money in consumer terms. American consumers spend something like a billion dollars on scented candles each year.

Besides, it doesn't seem to me like there was much of a delay at all in getting generic loratadine to consumers:

http://www.nj.com/news/stories/0827_claritin.html

The patent expired in December 2002 and Geneva/Novartis had first-challenger exclusivity for 6 months. By August 2003, only a month or so later, the lawsuit was decided and the floodgates opened.