Digital Commons Network^™

American Corporate Copyright: A Brilliant, Uncoordinated Plan, Paul J. Heald

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Designing Food, Owning The Cornucopia: What The Patented Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich Might Teach About Gmos, Modified Foods, The Replicator, And Non-Scarcity Economics, Thomas C. Folsom

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

Imagine for purposes of discussion that the technology for designing and building an actual cornucopia—something that embodies code, genetically modified organisms, or other techniques for producing, modifying, creating, or duplicating food (call it neo-tech food design)— exists, works, and is safe. To frame the problems of neo-tech food design, I start with what ought to be an easy case of low-tech food design, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Since it is a prime example of an incremental improvement invention, and hence like very many other inventions that are routinely patented, it must be asked: was there a problem? And …

The Experiences Of Trips-Compliant Patent Law Reforms In Brazil, India, And South Africa And Lessons For Bangladesh, M. Monirul Azam

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

This study analyzes the policy options used by Brazil, India, and South Africa in their transitions to a TRIPS-compliant patent law and their introduction of pharmaceutical patents. This comparative review can be used to explore possible policy options that can also be utilized by LDCs, including Bangladesh.

Intellectual Property And Public Health - A White Paper, Ryan Vacca, James Ming Chen, Jay Dratler Jr., Tom Folsom, Timothy Hall, Yaniv Heled, Frank Pasquale, Elizabeth Reilly, Jeff Samuels, Katherine J. Strandburg, Kara W. Swanson, Andrew W. Torrance, Katharine Van Tassel

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

On October 26, 2012, The University of Akron School of Law's Center for Intellectual Property and Technology hosted its Sixth Annual IP Scholars Forum. In attendance were thirteen legal scholars with expertise and an interest in IP and public health who met to discuss problems and potential solutions at the intersection of these fields. This report summarizes this discussion by describing the problems raised, areas of agreement and disagreement between the participants, suggestions and solutions made by participants, and the subsequent evaluations of these suggestions and solutions.

Led by the moderator, participants at the Forum focused generally on three broad …

A View Of The Hierarchy Of Patent Rights, Trips, And The Canadian Patent Act, Jacob R. Osborn

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

In this paper, Section I introduces the international dimension of intellectual property with respect to the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement and the Dispute Settlement Understanding for resolving conflicts thereupon. Section II proceeds to examine two facets of the Canadian Patent Act: the Regulatory Review Exception and the Stockpiling Exception. While the international judicial authority determined that the Regulatory Review Exception was in conformity with TRIPS, the authority also found the Stock Piling Exception in violation of Article 30 of the TRIPS Agreement. Finally, Section III offers an alternative, historical approach to construing TRIPS, based on the …

History, Trips, And Common Sense: Curbing The Counterfeit Drug Market In Sub-Saharan Africa, Hannah Elizabeth Jarrells

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Collision Course Between Trips Flexibilities And Investor-State Proceedings, Cynthia M. Ho

Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article discusses an important, yet understudied threat to patent, as well as other intellectual property sovereignty under TRIPS: pending and potential challenges by companies under international agreements protecting investments. Although such agreements have existed for decades, Philip Morris and Eli Lilly are blazing a new path for companies to sue countries they claim interfere with their intellectual property rights through so-called investor-state arbitrations. These suits seek hundreds of millions in compensation and even injunctive relief for alleged violations of internationally agreed intellectual property norms. The suits fundamentally challenge TRIPS flexibilities at the very time the Declaration on Patent Protection …

Drugs, Drugs Everywhere But Just Not For The Poor, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

The objective for this article is to understand the legitimacy and limitations of US involvement in another country’s sovereign actions taken expressly in the public interest, or to protect public health, such as the compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals.

Trips-Plus, Public Health And Performance-Based Rewards Schemes Options And Supplements For Policy Formation In Developing And Least Developed Countries, Mohammed K. El-Said

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.