Jasdeep Singh Bal is a J.D. candidate (2011) at Osgoode Hall and is taking the Patent Law course.

There is a disconnect between patent laws, which are reflective of Western Industrial and commercial theories, and Eastern philosophies. According to Scheper-Hughes and Lock, there are essentially three different ways in which a body is viewed, two of which are important to this discussion: The first is the highly individualized body, and the second is the body within society. Speaking of the first, Scheper-Hughes and Lock attribute Cartesian dualism—the idea that the mind and body are distinctively separated—to the “mechanistic conception” of the body that allowed biology to pursue a radically materialistic progression, whereby the importance of mind, or the individual’s place within society, is trivialized. It is out of this understanding, I argue, that Western conceptions of patent laws have taken hold, making it problematic for Eastern societies that place an emphasis on a less individualistic and mechanistic view of the body.

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Posted in Commercialization, Cross Border Issues, Patents
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Jasdeep Bal is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and was an intern this past summer with the People’s Patent Group (PPG) in New Delhi, India.

Currently, India’s domestic seed market is being overshadowed by the growing stature of Multinational corporations (MNCs), mainly due to their access to international germaplasm. Despite the dominant presence of MNCs, there is still huge potential for the expansion of the hybrid seed market in India. MNCs tend to focus on the expansion of the market itself rather than advertising a particular brand of seed. They attempt to convince farmers to invest in the hybrid seed market by commissioning numerous field workers in which open-pollinated varieties predominate. These field workers organize demonstrations and field-days, which are invitations to farmers to a local farmer’s field exhibiting extraordinarily high yields of crop. Cargill, for example, employs this advocacy strategy. Other companies, such as ITC Zeneca, screen a touring short film that dramatizes competitions between villages for the best crop.

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Posted in Cross Border Issues, Innovation, Patentability, Patents
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Jasdeep Bal is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

The Human Rights Law Network (where I am summer interning) utilizes public interest litigation (PIL) as their primary weapon to fight for human rights. The People’s Patent Group, under the umbrella of HRLN, is not a priority, however, as HRLN seems to have their hands full at the moment with securing maternal rights, rights for HIV/AIDS positive people, dalit rights, and right to food and healthcare, to name a few initiatives. As a result, issues involving GM seeds are not actively fought. As a matter of fact, I have not met a single person working for the People’s Patent Group, aside from Nigel D’Souza, my colleague-intern from Osgoode. HRLN therefore expects the interns to devise their own research proposal and submit a deliverable that will (hopefully) be useful to HRLN in furthering a PIL.

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Posted in Human Rights Issues, Patents
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Greetings from India! My name is Jasdeep Bal and I am one of two interns (the second being Nigel D’Souza) working for the People’s Patent Group (PPG) under the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) in New Delhi, India. Let me start off by saying that India is a relatively new country, still recovering from the wounds of colonialism, and although all sorts of progressive and excellent laws are being formulated, there is a real problem in applying those laws. Corruption is seemingly rampant and many of the cases dealt with by the HRLN have to do with such issues. The HRLN employs public interest litigation (PIL) as their main legal weapon to combat issues of human rights abuse. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in General, Patents, Pharmaceutical Drugs
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