Saint Gobain patron of pharmaceutical patentees?

In recent years there has been much complaint from originatingpharmaceutical companies that the test of obviousness appliedin the UK, as evidenced by decisions of the Patent Court onpharmaceutical related patents, is set unfairly low. This isof particular impact where ‘formulation’ type patentsare concerned. That is, typically, those patents that claiman existing active ingredient mixed, formulated, or combinedwith other known components or in a different way. Pharmaceuticalcompanies complain that the vulnerability of such patents againstinvalidity proceedings in the UK fails to protect the considerableinvestment made in the development of these formulations againstgeneric competition. This article looks at whether the reasons for this concern canbe traced to particular sub-tests that have been used by thecourts to try to answer the statutory test for obviousness.In particular, the sub-tests of ‘lying in the road’and ‘obvious to try’ are examined and the questionof whether there has been an imbalance between these two sub-testsis explored. Further, it is argued that the decisions in therecent cases of Saint-Gobain and Angiotech suggest that therehas been a shift in how the Court of Appeal assesses obviousness.This is away from the ‘obvious to try with a reasonableexpectation of success’ standard to one of ‘obviousto try if success is self-evident’. If the Court of Appeal follows the line taken in these two casesthen pharmaceutical patents of the formulations kind shoulda face better prospect of surviving invalidity challenges basedon obviousness in future.     

Understanding management: Henry Mintzberg on the activities of managers

The Nature of Managerial Work, 2^nd edition. By Henry Mintzberg . Engle‐wood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice‐Hall.     

The geopolitics of climate change: power transitions,conflict and the future of military activities

Climate change is emerging as one of the primary geopolitical challenges of the early twenty-first century, one that will likely involve military engagements and deployments in both traditional and non-traditional missions. Unlike mass casualty terrorism, climate change does not have a single galvanising event that can encourage collective mitigation efforts by both developed and developing states. International efforts to counter putative climate change causes have, thus far, been only marginally successful. Consequently, some of the more pernicious effects of climate change—extreme weather, heat waves, droughts and floods—will likely continue to manifest in the years and decades ahead. From a geopolitical perspective, climate change may influence the trajectory of rising or declining states in an increasingly multipolar world. It may also induce or exacerbate resource competition between states, particularly with regard to energy resources, water and food. Climate change may also exert a general weakening effect on lesser developed countries, thus necessitating increasingly intrusive and costly humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) missions, some of which may be conducted by military agencies. Overall, these trends suggest that climate change will continue to emerge as a significant factor that shapes and defines future military missions and deployments.