Law Commons^™

Blame It On Rio: Biodiscovery, Native Title, And Traditional Knowledge, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This article examines the legal responses to protect traditional knowledge of biodiversity in the wake of the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity. It considers the relative merits of the inter-locking regimes of contract law, environmental law, intellectual property law, and native title law. Part 1 considers the natural drug discovery industry in Australia. In particular, it looks at the operations of Amrad, Astra Zeneca R & D, and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. This section examines the key features of the draft regulations proposed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) - model contracts, informed consent, …

Rethinking Reexamination Reform: Is It Time For Corrective Surgery, Or Is It Time To Amputate?, Kristn Jakobsen Osenga

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Franklin Barley: Patent Law And Plant Breeders' Rights, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

The Attack Of The Clones: Patent Law And Stem Cell Research, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This article considers the integral role played by patent law in respect of stem cell research. It highlights concerns about commercialization, access to essential medicines and bioethics. The article maintains that there is a fundamental ambiguity in the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) as to whether stem cell research is patentable subject matter. There is a need to revise the legislation in light of the establishment of the National Stem Cell Centre and the passing of the Research Involving Embryos Act 2002 (Cth). The article raises concerns about the strong patent protection secured by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Geron …

Arising Under Jurisdiction And Uniformity In Patent Law, Christopher A. Cotropia

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The law governing the Federal Circuit's appellate jurisdiction was brought into question in Holmes Group, Inc. v. Vornado Circulation Systems, Inc. The Federal Circuit's appellate jurisdiction over Vornado's appeal rested solely on Vornado's counterclaim alleging patent infringement by Holmes. Holmes's complaint sought a declaratory judgment of no trade dress infringement and did not include any patent law claims. While the Federal Circuit found appellate jurisdiction over Vornado's appeal based on the counterclaim of patent infringement, the Supreme Court disagreed. The Court focused on the language in 35 U.S.C. § 1338(a), which defines the Federal Circuit's appellate jurisdiction by the statute's …

Advancing Science While Protecting Developing Countries From Exloitation Of Their Resources And Knowledge, Elizabeth Longacre

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Still Patently Unconstitutional: A Reply To Professor Nard, Margo A. Bagley

Faculty Articles

In Defense of Geographic Disparity is Professor Craig Nard's response to my article Patently Unconstitutional: The Geographical Limitation on Prior Art in a Small World (Patently Unconstitutional). According to Professor Nard, my article advocates "the elimination of [the] geographic disparity" of 35 U.S.C § 102 in order to "protect developing nations and indigenous peoples from Western countries' patent law regimes." Professor Nard is correct in his assertion that I seek the elimination of the geographical disparity in U.S. patent law; however, he misses the mark as to my reasons. My opposition to the geographical limitation does not derive from …

Genentech And The Stolen Gene: Patent Law And Pioneer Inventions, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This paper evaluates the litigation over the biotechnology patent dispute between the University of California and Genentech. First it outlines the scientific work behind the cloning of the human growth hormone, and looks at the patent office, and its treatment of biotechnological inventions. Second, it considers the court room dispute, and the legal case of the University of California and the biotechnology company in this dispute. Finally, it considers the implications of this dispute for policy reform in respect of patent law and biotechnology.

Piercing The Academic Veil: Disaffecting The Common Law Exception To The Patent Infringement Liability And The Future Of A Bona Fide Research Use Exemption After Madey V. Duke University, Lawrence M. Sung, Claire M. Maisano

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

The Bitter Has Some Sweet: Potential Antitrust Enforcement Benefit From Patent Law's Procedural Rules, Joseph S. Miller

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Patents, Product Exclusivity, And Information Dissemination: How Law Directs Biopharmaceutical Research And Development, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Other Publications

It's a great honor for me to be invited to deliver the Levine Distinguished Lecture at Fordham, and a great opportunity to try out some new ideas before this audience. As some of you know, I've been studying the role of patents in biomedical research and product development ("R&D") for close to twenty years now, with a particular focus on how patents work in "upstream" research in universities and biotechnology companies that are working on research problems that arise prior to "downstream" product development. But, of course, the patent strategies of these institutions are designed around the profits that everyone …

Speeding Up The Crawl To The Top, Michael B. Abramowicz

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The literature on competition in corporate law has debated whether competition is a "race to the bottom" or a "race to the top.” This Article endorses the increasing scholarly consensus that competition improves corporate law but argues that the pace of innovation in corporate law is likely to be slow. Because benefits of corporate law innovation are not internalized, neither states nor firms will have sufficient incentives to innovate. That competitive federalism is “to the top" suggests that the model could be applied beyond the corporate charter context, for example to areas such as bankruptcy, but that benefits from such …

Reaching Through The Genome, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Book Chapters

The past two decades have been a period of rapid evolution in the science of biotechnology and therefore in patent strategies, if not in patent law itself. Patent law takes a long time to catch up with science, and commentators take a long time to catch up with the law, but patent lawyers don’t have that luxury. They have to keep ahead of the game, figuring out claiming strategies that allow their clients to capture the value of future discoveries. I want to discuss some of these strategies today.

Bayh-Dole Reform And The Progress Of Biomedicine, Arti K. Rai, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Articles

Advances in fundamental biomedical research play an important and growing role in the development of new therapeutic and diagnostic products. Although the development of pharmaceutical end products has long been a proprietary enterprise, biomedical research comes from a very different tradition of open science. Within this tradition, long-standing norms call for relatively unfettered access to fundamental knowledge developed by prior researchers. The tradition of open science has eroded considerably over the past quarter century as proprietary claims have reached farther upstream from end products to cover fundamental discoveries that provide the knowledge base for future product development.

Bayh-Dole Reform And The Progress Of Biomedicine, Arti K. Rai, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Articles

Allowing universities to patent the results of government-sponsored research sometimes works against the public interest.

Beyond Blue Gene: Intellectual Property And Bioinformatics, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer