Regional Technological Differences: The Case of Southern European Union

This paper examines the spatial spillover effects and the productivity rate of patents in southern European Union. It provides a systematic analysis of the relationship between productivity of patents and the factors that generate economically useful new technological knowledge. An applied spatial econometric framework is employed since this approach is particularly useful in the study of the spatial patterns of patents productivity, at the lowest possible levels of spatial aggregation.     

高校专利成果转化障碍法律制度研究

专利的价值不是体现在专利的所有权上,而是体现在专利的实施、转化等运作所带来的商业价值上。如果仅仅获得了专利的所有权而不去转化、实施,则无疑是对专利资产的一种浪费。截至2012年,我国个人专利技术转化率还不到5%;高校的专利转化率也只有5%;专利技术实施率仅为0.29%。转化障碍的状况很大程度上缘于我国高校专利成果转化法律制度的不完善。立法不足对高校专利成果转化造成了很大的制约。我国亟须加快高校专利成果转化方面的立法建设,为高校专利成果转化提供一个良好的法律制度环境。     

Explaining institutional change in international patent politics

This article seeks to explain institutional change in international patent politics since the conclusion of the 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (trips). I argue that the distribution of interests in this issue area adheres to a sharp North–South distinction, and that the pursuit of largely incompatible and conflicting patent agendas by industrialised and developing countries, respectively, has led to the gradual emergence of an international patent regime complex. Focusing on trips-plus measures under various Free Trade Agreements, patent enforcement clubs and a range of UN organisations which have recently gained relevance for international patent politics, I show how the distribution of interests in this area has led to the development of two parallel and partially inconsistent international governance structures. I conclude that the distribution of interests explains the propensity of regime complexes towards stability and change, with institutional change being particularly pronounced when overlapping interests among revisionist actors enhance the prospects of collective action.     

Club apples: a biology of markets built on the social life of variety

Abstract

Club apples are patented apple varieties, often grown by members of a co-operative who plan the production and marketing of the apples. Drawing on ethnographic work, this paper will use club apples as a case to demonstrate that varieties have shaped the development of the apple industry in ways that resist institutional pressures to commodify the biological features of the apple. Club apples extend social boundaries around varieties in ways that grant growers more control over the market life of the apple and more economic power. The productive opportunities availed in the aliveness of biological materials can be seen to shape competition and the contours of economic markets.     

从社会价值角度看药品专利保护与公共健康利益的冲突

TRIPS协议将医药产品纳入专利保护范围以后，引发了国际社会对药品专利和公共健康二者利益如何平衡的争执。本文在浅述药品专利保护与公共健康双方争端由来的基础上，浅谈了争执双方的利益所在，然后从社会价值、知识产权制度的利益衡平目标等方面分析后，笔者认为，在当前公共健康不断受到AIDS、SARS、禽流感等高发传染性疾病的挑战的情况下，应在保护药品知识产权的同时，不断加强对公共健康的保护。     

Hyperlinks citations, reproducing original works

A hyperlink (or simply a link) is a citation of an electronic address where further information can be found but, additionally, navigates the surfer almost instantaneously to material hosted anywhere on the Internet at a mere click of a mouse. Controversy arises because either the composition or functionality of the hyperlink can potentially infringe property rights of the claimant. Many have written about the hyperlink as a navigation tool authorising or contributing to infringement of copyright by a third party.¹This article concentrates on the composition of an external hyperlink, as a citation. Part 2 outlines the nature of Internet communication and explains why hyperlinks are often controversial. Part 3 asserts when copyright subsists in original literary works, but because a hyperlink may incorporate diverse formats, this part also addresses the protection of other works including the issue of composite works covered under section 1(1) of Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988. Applying copyright principles, it suggests that a hyperlink reproducing an identifiable part of a web page capable of standing apart from its context can infringe copyright in the web page containing the part. That said the claimant might face difficulty in demonstrating that the work is substantive or, where the hyperlink consists of diverse inputs, in categorising the subject matter. Part 4 acknowledges the significance (electronic) collections and therefore defines a database falling within the Databases Directive.² It then highlights challenges presented by copyright and sui generis right relating to databases concluding that reproducing an identifiable part of author compiled work can infringe copyright and/or sui generis right therein but the same is not true of search engine generated returns. Part 5 concedes that, in practice, subsistence of copyright and/or sui generis right is open to challenge because the part reproduced in a hyperlink may not be substantive, may not easily fit into the category of protected subject matter or lacks ‘substantial investment.’ Nevertheless, it argues that proving infringement in an identifiable part of a web page reproduced in a hyperlink remains the most viable option for indirectly controlling access to the target page, which may itself be unprotected by copyright.     

Sowing seeds of change for the digital world – A response to ‘Digital opportunity: A review of intellectual property and growth’

Professor Ian Hargreaves released his independent report entitled Digital Opportunity – A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth on 18 May 2011. Hargreaves advocates strategic change and policy initiatives for the intellectual property framework in both national and international contexts. Ten recommendations are proposed, including reform of copyright licencing procedures, implementation of a digital copyright exchange, and legislative exceptions to copyright infringement, along with restructuring of systems for the grant and enforcement of patents. In this article, the authors discuss Hargreaves’ recommendations and consider how intellectual property law and policy may be used to facilitate innovation and economic growth in the modern digital world.     

假冒专利罪辨析与质疑

目前 ,我国刑法学界在界定假冒专利行为时存在较大分歧 ,刑法对“假冒专利罪”的规定也存在不合理之处。为了有效保护专利权人的合法权益 ,必须在立法上予以修改和完善。     

Software patents in the United States: A balanced approach

This paper tracks the interesting journey of software patents in the United States from both a historic and current standpoint. The U.S patent system has drifted from being strict in the 1970s to being fairly lenient in 1990s and now again strict since 2007. The revolutionizing and famous Bilski case that is redefining the boundaries of software patents is described, and the impact of this Court case on software patents is discussed. The challenges in issuing software patents in terms of proving novelty and non-obviousness are presented in an attempt to bring forward some of the questions in the software patent debate. The uniqueness of software as an invention is analyzed to understand why software should be considered differently compared to other industries. The advantages and disadvantages of software patents are discussed. The paper concludes by providing recommendations and proposing a balanced approach to software patents.     

Dolly and Alice

The opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, In re Roslin Institute, rejecting patent claims to mammals cloned from somatic cells, was rendered about a month before the United States Supreme Court''s decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International. The Alice opinion explicitly sets out the standard for determining whether an invention falls within statutory patentable subject matter. Thus one is thus left to wonder what the Roslin opinion might have looked like had it been decided only a few weeks later, after the Alice decision was published, with the benefit of the Supreme Court''s further direction on patentable subject matter. In this essay I explore whether in hindsight the Alice standard might have dictated a different outcome in Roslin, suggesting how the two-part test articulated by the Supreme Court in Alice might apply to a ‘products of nature’ analysis for cloned mammals. Drawing on that analysis, I then use the Roslin case as a vehicle to highlight certain issues with the Supreme Court''s current subject matter jurisprudence as applied to biotechnology. By juxtaposing Dolly with Alice, it becomes clear that the Supreme Court has revivified a number of dormant biotechnology patent problems in the guise of subject matter analysis.