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Full-Text Articles in Intellectual Property Law
Socially Responsible Corporate Ip, J. Janewa Osei-Tutu
Socially Responsible Corporate Ip, J. Janewa Osei-Tutu
Faculty Publications
Many companies practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) as part of their branding and public relations efforts. For example, as part of their CSR strategies, some companies adopt voluntary codes of conduct in an effort to respect human rights. This Article contemplates the application of CSR principles to trade-related intellectual property (IP). In theory, patent and copyright laws promote progress and innovation, which is why IP rights are beneficial for both IP owners and for the public. Trademark rights encourage businesses to maintain certain standards and allow consumers to make more efficient choices. Though IP rights are often discussed in relation …
Prioritising Human Development In African Intellectual Property Law, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Prioritising Human Development In African Intellectual Property Law, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Faculty Publications
The global intellectual property structure has been criticised for requiring developing nations to adopt intellectual property standards that are appropriate for industrialised countries. Some commentators have observed that industrialised nations, such as the United States, developed their economies by borrowing from others, but that through the use of globalised intellectual property standards, they have effectively limited other nations from doing the same. This article does not aim to revisit the question of the suitability of the existing intellectual property standards for developing countries. Nor does it seek to analyse whether, as a general proposition, intellectual property rights should be expanded …
Humanizing Intellectual Property: Moving Beyond The Natural Rights Property Focus, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Humanizing Intellectual Property: Moving Beyond The Natural Rights Property Focus, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Faculty Publications
This Article compares the natural rights property framework with the human rights framework for intellectual property. These two frameworks share a common theoretical basis in the natural rights tradition, but they appear to lead to conflicting outcomes. Proponents of natural rights to intellectual property tend to support more expansive intellectual property protections. Advocates of a human rights approach to intellectual property contend, however, that human rights will have a moderating influence on intellectual property law. This Article is among the first scholarly works to explore the apparent conflict between these two important frameworks for intellectual property. It concludes that a …
Human Development As A Core Objective Of Global Intellectual Property, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Human Development As A Core Objective Of Global Intellectual Property, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Faculty Publications
Global intellectual property obligations shape domestic laws and policies. More than twenty years since the first multilateral trade-based intellectual property agreement, critics contend that global intellectual property law prioritizes intellectual property rights over other interests, and profits over people. Faced with international intellectual-property obligations, nations have been forced to justify laws and policies designed to promote human development in areas such as health and education as exceptions to intellectual property protection. This is the result of legal interpretations that treat the objectives of intellectual property protection and human development as inconsistent with one another. Drawing on the objectives of trade …
Corporate "Human Rights" To Intellectual Property Protection?, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Corporate "Human Rights" To Intellectual Property Protection?, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Faculty Publications
The global intellectual property system protects the interests of intellectual property owners, sometimes to the detriment of competing interests like public health or access to knowledge. Some scholars have proposed a human rights framework for intellectual property as a way to inject balance into the current system. However, the assertion that human rights will bring balance is often coupled with the assumption that corporations are, by definition, excluded from human rights-based intellectual property claims. Yet, corporations have used, and are likely to continue to use, human rights law to ground their intellectual property claims. Since multinational corporations were a major …
Agricultural Biotechnology: Drawing On International Law To Promote Progress, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Agricultural Biotechnology: Drawing On International Law To Promote Progress, J. Janewa Oseitutu
Faculty Publications
In Bowman v. Monsanto, the Supreme Court declined to apply the principle of exhaustion to limit the patentee’s ability to control the reproduction of self-replicating inventions. This decision was justified from a patent law perspective on the basis that patent holder has a right to prevent others from making the invention. But what happens when we take other perspectives into account? For instance, a farmer might have human rights or other rights that may need to be balanced against the patentee’s right. Since globalized intellectual property standards were established through international agreements and much of the resistance to intellectual property …