Osgoode alum, Ron Fernando explains how India’s lack of patent protection for software affects innovators and investors in the July/August 2009 issue of the leading IP trade magazine Managing Intellectual Property. Here's a quick intro paragraph: "Proponents and opponents of software patents in Europe and the US have all but argued themselves into a standstill. […]
I am currently working at the Human Rights Law Network, located in Delhi, India. My experience here has been just phenomenal. I am extremely excited to share with all of you what I learn during my tenure at HRLN. Upon arriving, I attended the HIV/AIDS Conference, initiated and organized by HRLN. My involvement in the […]
On June 1st the Supreme Court of the United States granted a petition to hear the case of Bilski v. Doll. At the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Bilski patent for a method of hedging risk in commodities trading was rejected, affirming the decision of the USPTO. The majority of the court moved away from the […]
In a recently released decision by the Canada Patent Appeal Board and Commissioner of Patents, an application by Amazon.com for its one-click ordering system was rejected. The application contained 75 claims and was a response to the Examiner's report from 2002, where claims 44 to 50 were directed to a physical object and the rest were […]
My first experience with intellectual property occurred several years ago when I watched a documentary on the patents on the genes BRCA1 and 2. Individuals with certain types of mutations within these genetic sequences are at a significantly higher risk for developing hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. Despite knowing little about both genetics and law at the […]
On March 9, 2009, President Obama signed an executive order removing restrictions on federal funding for research involving embryonic stem cells. Prior to the signing, he noted that the Federal government plans to vigorously support scientists who pursue stem cell research. Stem cells are found in almost all multi-cellular organisms and are characterized by their […]
Although copyright issues have consumed the spotlight when it comes to Google Books, a recent thread has suggested that this feature may be of great use when it comes to patent prosecution. More specifically, the suggestion has been that Google Books has potential to become useful for prior art searching undertaken during preparation of a patent […]
Stephanie Anderson is a first year J.D. candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. The United States has long been awaiting Congress to finally agree on proposed patent reform issues, and it seems the anticipation may soon end in the coming months for scientists and researchers. Preliminary hearings are scheduled for March and April of this […]
Industry responses to the European Commission (EC) preliminary report on pharmaceutical competition (see the IPilogue blog of Dec. 15, 2008) are becoming available, and criticism has been abundant. In no uncertain words professional associations are wondering aloud whether the EC properly interpreted the facts or, more generally, misconstrued the purposes of the current patent system. […]
Greg Hagen is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary. While James Thomson's claims to primate embryonic stem cells in U.S. Patent 5,843,780 (granted December 1st, 1998) were finally upheld on reexamination by the U.S. Patent and Trade-mark office in 2008, no Canadian patent was ever granted on these […]