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Cross Border Issues

Big Telecom versus Video Games: Big Implications

As reported on Kotaku.com – “British Telecommunications, a multinational mega-conglomerate with origins dating back to the 1800s, is suing Valve, a video game company that can’t count to three”. British Telecommunications (BT) alleges that on-line services offered by Valve infringe on four U.S. patents held by BT. The patents at trial are broadly worded and could implicate […]

The View Ahead for Software Patent Applications: USPTO Releases Update to Guidance on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility

This article is cross-posted with permission from Bereskin & Parr. The United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) has released an updated set of Eligibility Examination Guidelines to provide guidance to examiners on when to reject claimed inventions as ineligible abstract ideas. These guidelines give a sense of what computer-implemented subject matter the USPTO considers […]

Virotech Patents, Viropiracy, and Viral Sovereignty

INTRODUCTION Access to medicines goes hand in hand with the protection of intellectual property rights. At a time when the United States is undertaking large-scale reforms in both the intellectual property and healthcare arenas, it is worth thinking more deeply and broadly about the connections between the two. In March 2010, Congress enacted the Patient […]

Avoiding Poison Apples and Tending to Blackberries: Did Canada’s 1989 Shift To First-To-File Nip Small-Time Innovation In the Bud?

New legal research from the University of Pennsylvania Law School suggests so. The aim of the study, according to Professors David S. Abrams and R. Polk Wagner, is to empirically predict how the recent changes to American patent laws, introduced by section 3 (s3) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), will affect American innovation after […]

Servier v Apotex: Illegality Earns $17.5 Million in Damages

Normally, doing something that breaks the law earns you a punishment, including a fine, community service, or even imprisonment. However, when Apotex Inc., a large generic pharmaceutical company, began producing and selling a drug that Servier Laboratories Limited, another large pharmaceutical company, had patented, Apotex was awarded $17.5 million.

The EU Patent: European Union Seeks Unitary Patent System

Katrine Ritto Tvede is a law student at the University of Copenhagen on exchange at Osgoode Hall Law School and is enrolled in Professor Ikechi Mgbeoji’s Patents class in Fall 2011. As part of the course requirements, students are asked to write a blog on a topic of their choice. Through innovation, patents are an […]

Stormy Weather Ahead: Enforcing Patent Rights In The “Cloud”

Jennifer Webb is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and is enrolled in Professor Mgbeoji’s Patents class in Fall 2011. As part of the course requirements, students are asked to write a blog on a topic of their choice. Due to the nature of “cloud” infrastructure, companies filing patents for cloud based innovations […]

Foreign Patent Applications In The Fast Lane

Jenny Lyngsø Østergaard is a LLM student from the University of Copenhagen and is currently attending an exchange program at Osgoode Hall Law School. She is enrolled in Professor Mgbeoji’s Patents class in the Fall 2011. As part of the course requirements, students are asked to write a blog on a topic of their choice. […]