Patent Law Weblog
recent posts
- Quo Vadis mRNA Vaccine Technology? The State of the IP Lawsuits
- Moderna Settles Patent Litigation with Arbutus et al.
- USPTO and DOJ Statement of Interest in Collision Communications: Another Thumb on the Scale in Favor of NPE Patent Plaintiffs
- Oasis Tooling, Inc. v. Siemens Industry Software Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2026)
- Why AI Will Not Take Over the World
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Category: International IP
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By Martin O'Brien — The patentability of genetic materials has been the subject of considerable community debate in Australia and elsewhere in recent years. Several inquiries have been held in Australia, including the Senate Gene Patents Report (24 November 2010), the 2011 ACIP Report on Patentable Subject Matter, and the 2004 Australian Law Reform Commission's…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Sometimes the U.S. and Europe seem to be on diametrically opposed trajectories when it comes to patent policy. One such moment was in the 1980's, when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office responded to the Supreme Court's Diamond v. Chakrabarty decision by permitting broad patenting of biotechnological inventions while Europeans…
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By Huan Zhu — With recent developments in biotechnology, the legal issues surrounding its patent law since the 1980's have been a growing concern. Among all the subcategories of biotechnology, hESCs (human embryonic stem cells), one of the most controversial categories, is receiving different patent system treatments in different countries. The rules and regulations regarding…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — In the aftermath of the European Court of Justice's decision last month that patent claims encompassing human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were patent-ineligible in Europe on public order and morality grounds (see "European Court of Justice Renders Stem Cell Decision"), some commentators argued that the decision had a "silver lining": …
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By Donald Zuhn — Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced the launch of WIPO Re:Search, a consortium of public and private sector organizations sharing intellectual property (IP) and expertise with the global health research community to promote the development of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for the treatment of neglected tropical diseases,…
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By Donald Zuhn — Yesterday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and European Patent Office announced the launch of a new website regarding the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) initiative. The CPC project seeks to combine the best classification practices of both the U.S. and European systems with the aim of developing a joint IPC based…
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By Devanand Crease — The Court of Justice of the European Union has issued its final verdict in the case of Bruestle v Greenpeace (C‑34/10) and has finally put an end to the long running saga of whether or not human embryonic stem (ES) cells can be subject to patent protection in Europe. The case…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today rendered its decision regarding the patent-eligibility of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in Europe, and as widely expected has heeded the recommendation of the court's advocate general that hESCs are not patent-eligible subject matter (see "European Court of Justice Considers Embryonic Stem Cell…
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By Donald Zuhn — Last month, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee of the Australian Senate issued its recommendation on a bill that would have prevented the patenting of biological materials that are identical or substantially identical to materials as they exist in nature (such as genes and proteins). The Patent Amendment (Human Genes…
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By Donald Zuhn — Last month, the World Intellectual Property Organization released a report that provides an overview of worldwide intellectual property activity through 2009, the most recent year for which complete data was available. The 26-page report, entitled "WIPO IP Facts and Figures 2011," covers patents, utility models, trademarks, and industrial designs, compiling IP…
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