A group of university researchers in Oklahoma are trying to patent a new cut of steak, which would provide their university with a healthy revenue stream if the patent is licensed to meat processors.
Flickr\james c.
During the golden age of the unregulated food industry, Chicago slaughterhouses boasted that they processed every part of the animal except for the squeal. How times have changed: agricultural businesses…
Novartis sought to charge A$26,000 a year for its anti-cancer drug, compared with A$2,000 per year for a generic copy.
ChrisGoldNY
Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis this week lost a seven-year legal battle over a drug patent in India. It’s certainly a win for those in India who use the drug, and for patients in India more generally…
“It seems patent trolls are here to stay, but that might not be the case for much longer.”
K.G.Hawes
Can podcasting be patented? If you are an instigator of what’s being referred to as the SHIELD Act – introduced into US Congress last month – the answer would seem to be no. If you represent a US company…
As the Indian delegate said, ‘If we don’t get cheap technology we will never be able to adapt to climate change’. But Doha was reluctant to discuss the matter.
Danish Wind Industry Association.
In November 2001, Doha hosted trade talks over intellectual property and public health. The discussions resulted in the landmark Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health. The Doha Declaration…
The government has launched several inquiries into patent law and pharmaceutical drugs.
Daniel Weir
It takes a lot of bravery for governments to stand up to big business. But the Gillard government has shown a lot of guts during its tenure.
It stood up to Big Tobacco in the battle over plain packaging…
Pharmaceutical companies view the growing middle class in India and other emerging economies as a significant source of revenue.
Ryan/Flickr
India is the global focal point for legal and political struggles over patent rights and access to medicines. Particular attention is focused on the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, which is in battle…
Biotech patents are worth big money, so companies would fiercely resist a compulsory licence.
sam d
We’re in for another round of the biotech patent wars, with announcement the Productivity Commission will inquire into the compulsory licensing of patents. If adopted, compulsory licensing could increase…
Rio+20 has backtracked on many intellectual property measures put in place by Agenda 21.
David Foote/AAP
The Rio+20 summit has raised a number of difficult questions about law and technology: what is the relationship between intellectual property and the environment? What role does intellectual property play…
The SPICE balloon has been grounded.
SPICE Project
Inventors have long been protecting their ideas by filing patent applications on new technologies. But is it appropriate for researchers or companies to own the intellectual property rights to climate…
Leaders of the member states of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) from 2010.
Gobierno de Chile/Wikimedia Commons
According to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Ron Kirk, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is “an ambitious, next-generation, Asia-Pacific trade agreement that reflects U.S. priorities and values…
Drug prices reduce dramatically when large multinationals’ monopoly is broken.
m.p.3./Flickr
Two large multinational pharmaceutical companies are fighting for patents and monopoly pricing in Indian courts. The outcomes of the cases – involving Novartis and Bayer – are likely to determine the country…
Synthetic biology may help us create artificial life, but how should we patent it?
Wellcome Images
With promises of improved medical treatments, greener energy and even artificial life, the field of synthetic biology has captured the public imagination and attracted significant government and commercial…
Companies too often replace genuine innovation with regulatory shenanigans.
eMagineArt.com
IDEAS AND OWNERSHIP: The concept of protecting ideas and innovation by legal means dates back to antiquity. But many of our existing laws are under strain, their suitability and ultimate purpose called…
US-China competition could lead to a brighter clean energy future, or a trade war.
whitehouse.gov
There is a trade war brewing between the United States and China over intellectual property relating to clean technologies – particularly solar power.
Steven Chu, a scientist, Nobel Laureate in Physics…
How can we best reward creators and those who benefit from their creations?
917press
IDEAS AND OWNERSHIP: The concept of protecting ideas and innovation by legal means dates back to antiquity. But in the age of the internet and multinational business models, many of the existing laws are…
Software patenting was a fringe activity for the first 20 years of the software industry.
opensourceway
What would the software industry look like without patents?
It’s a question worth asking in the context of Apple’s recent body blow to Samsung,
which will see Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 kept off Australian…
Feeding the world’s poor may not really be the main concern of companies that take out gene patents on crops.
AAP
Michael Gilbert’s article starts with a title that poses a question – Will patenting crops help feed the hungry? Fair enough, except he then proceeds to provide an answer, which as the posted comments…
Patent acquisition is a delicate game of balance and counterbalance.
Rolf Vennenbernd/EPA
The patent wars took a bizarre turn this week.
Samsung, currently defending itself against a legal move by Apple to have four Samsung smartphones and tablets banned from America due to alleged patent…
It can be hard to know where the next bit of hypercharged rhetoric will come from.
fotoforlizzie
If you believe the hype, the “patent wars” are well and truly underway.
Google announced last week it will buy Motorola Mobility to get access to 15,000 of the handset manufacturer’s patents and HTC…
A US court has recognised Myriad Genetics' patent for an isolated gene, which plays a role in breast cancer.
Mel Rowling
The recent US Federal Court of Appeals decision relates to the patent law status of inventions based on the discovery that particular mutations in BRCA genes predispose women to breast and ovarian cancer…
Federal governments should fund pharmaceutical research and development.
AAP
Over the last couple of decades, the pharmaceutical industry has come under attack for its perceived shortcomings amid claims that it’s greedy, profiteering nature has caused significant harm.
However…
