Setting up a new business may be really tough. Let's assume you want to produce and market DVD-players. You can not ignore the fact that the DVD technology is protected with patents. More than 850 patents owned by some 10 patent holders around the world, such as Philips, Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi,...

Information and knowledge form the very basis of scientific progress. Access to information and disclosure of research results are key to the advancement of a knowledge economy. Current academic knowledge development, however, is characterized by two tendencies which may form a threat to further...

The extension of patent protection to biological material is by no means a recent phenomenon in Belgium. In 1836 the Belgian Patent Office granted the first patent for a micro-organism, viz. a yeast for the production of beer. A century later, in 1949, the Office delivered the first patent for a...

The present paper deals with the question how legal protection of biodiversity and traditional knowledge can be accommodated and how the results from the use and exploitation of biodiversity and traditional knowledge can be shared. The aim is to cast the various contributions in this volume in a...

The paper discusses the difficult genesis of the EU Biotechnology Directive and highlights how the Belgian legislator interpreted the Directive. Attention is also paid to other treaties and conventions which have influenced the patentability of biological inventions. The paper concludes that the...

The paper discusses the scope of patents for medicines, and analyses which acts from third parties, ranging from clinical trials from competitors for improved medicines to generic manufacturers with me-too products, the patent holder can stop

Law meets biotechnology: on the one hand, there is patent law, offering intellectual protection for biotechnological inventions; on the other hand, there is safety law, offering protection against possible harmful effects of biotechnological developments. However, are patent law and safety law...

From the initial establishment of patent acts in the United States and in Europe, experts have questioned whether or not plants can enjoy patent protection. For various reasons, it has generally been felt that the patent system was an inappropriate method of protecting new plants. Consequently,...

The paper critically analyses the various TRIPS provisions relevant to patent law. Topics covered include the relationship between the TRIPs agreement and other intellectual property treaties, patentable subject matter, patentability requirements, scope of protection, transfer and (voluntary and...

In their foundational paper, 'Constructing Commons in the Cultural Environment', Madison, Frischmann and Strandburg develop a theoretical framework for analyzing and systematizing constructed cultural commons, thereby tilting the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework approach,...