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Full-Text Articles in Law
When Biopharma Meets Software: Bioinformatics At The Patent Office, Saurabh Vishnubhakat, Arti K. Rai
When Biopharma Meets Software: Bioinformatics At The Patent Office, Saurabh Vishnubhakat, Arti K. Rai
Faculty Scholarship
Scholars have spilled much ink questioning patent quality. Complaints encompass concern about incoming applications, examination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), and the USPTO’s ultimate output. The literature and some empirical data also suggest, however, that applications, examination, and output may differ considerably based on technology. Most notably, although definitions of patent quality are contested, quality in the biopharmaceutical industry is often considered substantially higher than that in information and communications technology (ICT) industries.
This Article presents the first empirical examination of what happens when the two fields are combined. Specifically, it analyzes the creation and early history …
Reverse Payments, Perverse Incentives, Murat C. Mungan
Reverse Payments, Perverse Incentives, Murat C. Mungan
Faculty Scholarship
Issuing and enforcing prescription drug patents requires courts and legislatures to strike a delicate balance. A patent gives drug manufacturers a legal, if temporary, monopoly on sales of a drug; this encourages manufacturers to engage in costly research and development of new medicines. But not all patents issued by the Patent Office are ultimately deemed valid – generic drug manufacturers can infringe the patent, and, when sued, attack its validity in court on a variety of grounds, including obviousness. In recent years, patent holders have begun to settle these suits (which they initiated) by paying the alleged infringer. Not surprisingly, …
The Jekyll And Hyde Story Of International Trade: The Supreme Court In Phrma V. Walsh And The Trips Agreement, Srividhya Ragavan
The Jekyll And Hyde Story Of International Trade: The Supreme Court In Phrma V. Walsh And The Trips Agreement, Srividhya Ragavan
Faculty Scholarship
The paper analyses the international impact of the approval by the United States Supreme Court to use indirect price control mechanisms to tackle public health and Medicaid issues. It traces similarities in policies implemented by the United States and those it opposed within developing nations. For example, the recent use by the developed nations of compulsory licensing and price control mechanisms, which they opposed as violating TRIPS when used by developing nations, underlines a poverty penalty suffered by developing nation signatories of TRIPS. In effect, TRIPS exempts developed nations from fulfilling obligations developing nations were forced to fulfill and thus …
Can't We All Get Along? The Case For A Workable Patent Model, Srividhya Ragavan
Can't We All Get Along? The Case For A Workable Patent Model, Srividhya Ragavan
Faculty Scholarship
The global move towards a trade regime has been impeded by challenges of poverty and health crisis for the developing nations. Until now, the developed nations have touted the establishment of a trade regime as envisaged under TRIPS as the solution for the national challenges. This paper examines the effectiveness of TRIPS as a mechanism to move towards a trade regime. It argues that the patent policy in TRIPS cannot gear the world towards patent harmonization but can potentially adversely impact the developed nations and the post-world war trade structure. The impediments affecting the effectiveness of TRIPS as a harmonizing …