Can We Protect How We Do What We Do? A Consideration of Business Method Patents in Australia and Europe

In the long history of monopolies, business method patents area novel and recent edition. In the Digital Age, where time ismoney and speed is everything, innovative methods for undertakingbusiness are as important to a business as the products or servicesit provides to its clients. In recent years several reviews,conducted in both Australia and internationally,⁴ have questionedthe appropriateness of patenting business methods. This paperreviews the availability of business method patents in Australiain light of the 2006 decision of the Full Court of the FederalCourt in Grant v Commissioner of Patents,⁵ which confirmed theneed in Australia for a ‘useful product’ to issuefrom the working of a method (business or otherwise) in orderfor the method to be patentable. This paper will review argumentsboth criticising and defending business method patents and considerwhether business methods warrant special treatment.     

Concussions and youth football: using a public health law framework to head off a potential public health crisis

Concussion from sport is increasingly recognized as a public health priority. In response, all states and the District of Columbia have enacted youth concussion legislation. This paper first examines key developments in concussion-related policy and legislation and then uses the findings from recent scientific studies to highlight the need to incorporate evolving scientific evidence into concussion legislation in order to better protect youth and adolescent athletes. Next, the paper discusses the framework of empirical health law research and why it should be applied in the case of concussion legislation. Finally, this paper argues that empirical health law research should be considered in any decision about whether legislation can help improve the health and safety of young players, a particularly vulnerable population whose unique needs have not yet been adequately addressed.