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Works Of Artistic Craftsmanship In The High Court Of Australia: The Exception As Paradigm Copyright Work, Justine Pila Jan 2009

Works Of Artistic Craftsmanship In The High Court Of Australia: The Exception As Paradigm Copyright Work, Justine Pila

Justine Pila

In Burge v Swarbrick, the High Court of Australia delivered an important decision on the most elusive of works protected by copyright: the work of artistic craftsmanship (WAC). Drawing on the history and reasons for that protection, and adopting the analysis of Lord Simon in Hensher, the Court affirmed the orthodox view that such works have 'special status' in law on account of their 'real artistic quality'. In its judgment, whether a work has that quality depends on whether it is a work of craftsmanship the artistic form of expression of which is sufficiently 'unconstrained by functional considerations'. In this …


Authorship And E-Science: Balancing Epistemological Trust And Skepticism In The Digital Environment, Justine Pila Jan 2009

Authorship And E-Science: Balancing Epistemological Trust And Skepticism In The Digital Environment, Justine Pila

Justine Pila

In this article I consider the role of authorship in balancing epistemological trust and skepticism in e-science. Drawing on studies of the diagnostic practices of doctors in British breast care units and the gate-keeping practices of a Californian publisher of (professional and amateur) horticultural works, I suggest that conventions of authorial designation have an important role to play in nurturing the skepticism essential for scientific rigor within the framework of epistemological trust that pragmatism and morality require. In so doing I question the assumption of contemporary scholars that scientific works are determinate in fact, while nonetheless supporting the idea of …


Article 53(B) Epc: A Challenge To The Novartis Theory Of European Patent History, Justine Pila Jan 2009

Article 53(B) Epc: A Challenge To The Novartis Theory Of European Patent History, Justine Pila

Justine Pila

In this article the authoritative ('Novartis/transgenic plant systems') interpretation of the Article 53(b) EPC exclusion from European patentability of plant and animal varieties, and essentially biological processes for the creation of plants and animals, is considered, and its significance for the trend of EPO jurisprudence and legitimacy of the EC Biotechnology Patenting Directive noted. The Enlarged Board of Appeal's justification for that interpretation in 'Novartis' with reference to the exclusion's legislative history is challenged, and an alternative theory of that history proposed, based on a thorough analysis of the unpublished 'travaux preparatoires' for the Strasbourg and European Patent Conventions. In …


Chemical Products And Proportionate Patents Before And After Generics V Lundbeck, Justine Pila Jan 2009

Chemical Products And Proportionate Patents Before And After Generics V Lundbeck, Justine Pila

Justine Pila

In Generics Ltd v Lundbeck A/S (2009) UKHL 12, the House of Lords affirmed the validity of a patent for a chemical product - an isolated stereoisomer - supported by a method of producing the product, but protecting the chemical product as such independent of the method by which it was made. In so doing, it appears to have resolved a longstanding tension between granting patents for chemical products and requiring that the scope of monopoly rights equiperate with the disclosure in the specification. It also appears to have rejected the Biogen Inc v Medeva plc (1997) RPC 1 (HL) …