Although a patent is typically seen as a right to exclude others, the willingness of American courts to automatically provide that right through a permanent or preliminary injunction has been affected by the Supreme Court of the United States in Ebay v. MercExchange (547 U.S. 388 (2006)).  In a recent article, Prof. Richard Epstein argues that this will have serious consequences and potentially reduce the flow of inventions.

The Ebay case concerned a company that owned a business-method patent for an electronic market, and was in negotiations to license that technology to two website operators.  After the parties failed to reach an agreement, the patentee brought a successful patent infringement suit against both website operators.  The District Court, however, denied injunctive relief on the basis that the plaintiff company was willing to license its patent and was not actively practicing the patented invention.  The Supreme Court in stating that both the District and Appeal courts had failed to apply the proper test, made it clear that an injunction will not automatically follow a finding of patent infringement.

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Posted in Infringement, Patents, Technology
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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 application.  During that process, patent agents must scrutinize publicly available documents in order to ascertain what information is already in the public domain.  Any publicly available information may narrow the scope of proposed claims in a patent, since a patentee cannot validly claim what is already described in a publicly available document.  Nor can a patentee claim subject-matter which would be obvious based on publicly available documents.

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Posted in Electronic Processes, Patentability, Patents
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Scientific discourse has always been encouraged as a means of nurturing accuracy and development, but according to a recent article by Andre Picard, the internet has changed the nature of scientific debate for the worse.

According to Picard, in the world of cyberspace, scientific “evidence” now increasingly takes the form of anecdotal reports, and “debate” takes the form of personal character assassination.  The internet allows people to fire off an opinion (however unqualified it may be) with only a moment’s thought and with just the click of a button; and individuals who are not adequately equipped to interpret scientific data are elevated to a platform to comment alongside those who have spent years preparing, compiling and understanding such data.  At the same time, opinions supported by dubious scientific research (for example, in the area of novel medical treatments and cures) are rampant on the internet and can become accepted as scientific fact.

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Posted in Copyright, Internet, Internet Sharing
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In a move that signals a completely new approach in its industry, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced that it will participate in a patent pool to allow access to patented chemicals and processes for development of treatment options relating to neglected diseases.

The pharmaceutical industry has long taken criticism for the price of medicines, especially ones required for treatment of diseases in developing countries.  The GSK initiative will counter some of this criticism directly by cutting medicine prices in the 50 least developed countries to no more than 25% of the prices in the UK and US, reinvesting profits from these countries back into local hospitals and clinics, and putting any patent rights it has over chemicals and processes related to neglected diseases into a patent pool so that research can be promoted in those areas.

The move has been received with mixed reviews.  Although Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has acknowledged the efforts of GSK, the organization takes issue with the fact that the HIV/AIDS is not being considered one of the neglected diseases.  According to MSF, there is a gap between what is available for HIV/AIDS treatment and what is needed, and that gap is one that a patent pool could close.   In particular, MSF has pointed to the necessity for paediatric formulations and studies to address the prevalence of HIV-positive children.

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Posted in Patents, Pharmaceutical Drugs
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