This is the much-quoted statement of Dr. Marica Angell, the former editorin-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. It is a sobering reflection on the operational reality that the development of new medications and improvements to those medications play a crucial role in ensuring continued gains in health and longevity. The need for new medicines is never-ending. To spur the investment ne…
Socialistic brands are signs with unique characteristics acquired through their use in particular historical circumstances. It is considered whether, decades after the fall of the iron curtain, the shared historical pedigree justifies different treatment of these signs. The author attempts to answer the question of what would constitute as unfair appropriation of these brands and discusses the …
Patent pools are essentially agreements where different patent holders “pool” together, i.e. assemble, their respective technologies in order to license them as a unique “package” to third parties.¹ Nowadays, in response to the globalisation of technologies and more severe conditions of competition, resulting in a faster pace of innovation also at an international level, technology poo…
The thesis is a response to the recent decisions of the German Federal Court of Justice on the patentability requirements of selection inventions, namely, the Olanzapine and Escitalopram decisions. This thesis provides an overview on the technology and patenting practice, followed by the discussion of jurisprudence on the patentability requirements for selection inventions in major jurisdiction…
Do patents rules prevent countries from acquiring affordable medicines? A number of legal experts and governments have felt that the WTO, in particular the TRIPS Agreement, forces countries to favour patents over public health. The WTO sought to settle this dispute by concluding the Public Health Declaration. This book closely analyses the legal situation within the WTO prior to the Declaration…
Intellectual Property law is a dynamic field; its ever-changing landscape challenges us to constantly revisit the existing laws and policies. Although ideological currents of a second-tier patent (STP) regime are sweeping through the South Asian region in recent years, the concept of utility model or petty patent remains a largely unexplored option in Sri Lanka and in other parts of the South A…
With the advent of a global community, which draws its sustenance from the unfettered communication of ideas and expression, it is worth reflecting on the role of copyright law and considering whether the existing legal frameworks of copyright in Europe have the capacity to meet the changing needs of a new generation who have given a whole new meaning to the term "creativity" and to that of "or…
With the interplay between competition law and IP rights becoming ever more intense in major economies a functioning framework is required to discourage monopolistic behaviour while stimulating innovation and consumer protection. In this dissertation the author studies issues at the nexus between China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) and a fast-evolving IP regime.De jurethe two legal systems pur…
This publication discusses one of the most influential pieces of legislation relating to technology transfer in the United States: The Bayh-Dole Act. The publication discusses the history that led to the groundbreaking Act, characterizes strengths and weaknesses of the Act from an economic and a policy standpoint, and details the recent Supreme Court Stanford v. Roche case, which may carry impl…
Trademark rights play a significant role in the proper functioning of a common market of a given regional bloc. Experience teaches that, unless national trade mark regimes of individual countries cooperating in a given regional bloc such as the East African Community (EAC) are integrated into a common market, trademark proprietors may invoke their intellectual property rights to dissect the com…