There is little doubt that the protection of the patent system has been instrumental in the continued innovation in science and technology by allowing the inventor (or filer of the patent) to reap the benefits of their effort and creativity. The realm of public health is no stranger to these benefits, with such innovation having […]
A team of Hamilton scientists at the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute (SCC-RI) of McMaster University have made a breakthrough discovery (reported by CTV here) with the potential to significantly impact future cancer treatment, and provide new hope for people living with cancer including tens of thousands of Canadians. Published in last Thursday’s edition […]
Global Health Challenges and the Role of Law: the 2012 National Health Law Conference: May 4 & 5, 2012; Metropolitan Hotel; Toronto. For the final program and registration, go to: http://nhlc2012.ca/. Legal scholars, lawyers, and human rights advocates are often prone to believe that global health and human rights issues can be best addressed through law […]
Imagine a world of great biotechnological promise where the hope of preventative, diagnostic and treatment medicine to illness and disease is more of a reality than ever before. Further, imagine that this world has, in hand, a map of the entire human genome with bits of DNA no longer lying in wait for discovery but […]
The Canadian government and European Union (EU) are currently negotiating a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). A key issue has been ensuring that Canadian intellectual property rights for pharmaceutical products are brought in line with EU standards. It appears that the EU believes Canada’s legal regime regulating the approval of drugs does not provide […]
In a move with far reaching implications for the debates around pharmaceutical patents, innovation and access to medicines, the Indian patent office issued its first ever compulsory licence in the post TRIPS era. While health activists, generic manufacturers and several academics lauded the decision, the multinational pharmaceutical industry was up in arms.
Ivy Tsui is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and is enrolled in Professor Mgbeoji’s Patents class in Fall 2011. As part of the course requirements, students are asked to write a blog on a topic of their choice. In the genomic era, the flood of computationally predicted genes has introduced a new […]
A. Samuel Oddi is a professor of Intellectual Property at the University of Akron School of Law. In prior articles,[3] I have tried to point out that developing countries, and particularly the least developed countries (LDCs), are not the intended or even incidental beneficiaries of the intellectual property system--particularly its internationalization under TRIPS. I have primarily […]
Danny Titolo is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently overturned a Southern District of New York court’s decision by ruling that genes can be patented. The Federal Circuit decided that DNA isolated from the body was patent-eligible since it is “markedly different” from the […]
Sebastian Talluri is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School and a Fellow of the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) / IP Osgoode Innovation Clinic. On June 16, 2011, I attended MedEdge Summit 2011, York Region. The half-day MedEdge Summit was hosted by the municipality of Richmond Hill and sponsored by a number of organizations, including […]