There’s a new law journal in town: “The International Free and Open Source Software Law Review (IFOSS L. Rev.) is a collaborative legal publication aiming to increase knowledge and understanding among lawyers about Free and Open Source Software issues. Topics covered include copyright, licence implementation, licence interpretation, software patents, open standards, case law and statutory changes.”
A recently published law review article concludes that experiments with “PatentSim,” “a multi-user interactive simulation of patent and non-patent (commons and open source) systems,” do not support the general justification of our current patent system.
There are many who disagree, but the study appears to raise interesting issues regarding the benefit to society of copyright protections. As Mike Masnick writes, copyright is about balancing benefits (incentives to create with the benefits of distribution).
Colleen Chien has a paper in SSRN, dated April of 2009, that explores the narrative of patents, from the epithet of “troll” applied to patent owners who seek only to leverage their patent through licensing, and not application, and including our rather romantic perception of an inventor.
Michael Geist explains the current status of business method patents in Canada where, so far, they have been firmly rejected – unlike in the United States.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear In re Bilski, a case that may well invalidate business-method patents.
Patent Law Blog (Patently-O): Challenging the Strong Presumption of Patent Validity
One of the next major legal challenges to patent rights will be against the strong presumption of validity associated with the patent grant. Section 282 of the patent act says only that a patent and its claims “shall be presumed valid.” Under longstanding doctrine, this [...]
‘
Image via Wikipedia
Patent Baristas » Indian Biogenerics on an Upswing:
Indias pharmaceutical industry caters to about 30% of the world’s generic requirements. Despite its tremendous volume, it has been facing difficult times recently, with the WHO stance on counterfeit drugs, as well as seizure of Indian generic shipments in the EU.
There is some good news now [...]
The Founders might have used quill pens, but they would roll their eyes at how, in this supposedly technology-minded era, we’re undermining their intention to encourage innovation. The U.S. is stumbling in the transition from their Industrial Age to our Information Age, despite the charge in the Constitution that Congress “promote the Progress of Science [...]
This blog represents my views, my opinions, and my thoughts at a moment in time. It's focus is on law and technology, along with history, education, science, and anything else that strikes my fancy.| © 2005-2010 by Kristopher Nelson. Want to republish? Get permission. Want to quote? That's fair use. | Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha |
Follow me on Twitter