Latest News & Features
Big Pharma
With its roots stretching back to oil company Shell, Crystallics underpins pharmaceutical research and development by investigating the crystalline structures of drugs and potential drug compounds. LSIPR reports. 28 November 2014
Genetics
Does the coming into force of the Nagoya Protocol represent an overdue step in the right direction towards fairness, or more red tape and unattainable expectations? Charles Brabin, a non-practising barrister, sifts through the complexities. 28 November 2014
Americas
The Supreme Court of Canada was expected to bring the Canadian law on utility more into line with other jurisdictions, but those hopes have now received a setback, as Gunars Gaikis of Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh reports. 27 November 2014
article
The Indian Patent Office has issued guidelines aimed at bringing together the intentions of the Patents Act and the Biological Diversity Act, but this has posed serious challenges in obtaining patent protection, say Ranjna Mehta-Dutt and Neha Srivastava of Remfry & Sagar. 27 November 2014
Americas
The US Supreme Court has now heard arguments in the appeal of Teva v Sandoz from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This could fundamentally change how patent decisions are reviewed by the Federal Circuit and the deference given to district court rulings, says Felicia Boyd of Barnes & Thornburg. 27 November 2014
Big Pharma
The UK Intellectual Property Enterprise Court offers a quick and cheap way to resolve IP disputes, but very few have involved life sciences inventions. Mark Didmon and Simon Curtis of Potter Clarkson ask whether IPEC is an appropriate forum for handling these types of patent disputes. 27 November 2014
Europe
The EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal is about to deliver its long-awaited final decision on the patentability of plants, in the hope that it will at least bring legal certainty to patentees and unfreeze pending appeals. Franz-Josef Zimmer and Markus Grammel of Grünecker report. 27 November 2014
Americas
Google’s new contact lens sensor is just one of the latest eye-based devices that has vast potential in the field of medicine. LSIPR reports. 27 November 2014
Big Pharma
There still are some cultural, legal and procedural barriers that must be overcome before the potential of Brazil’s life sciences sector can be realised, as Gabriel Di Blasi and Mellina Mamede of Di Blasi, Parente & Associados explain. 27 November 2014
Big Pharma
The current regulations in Mexico provide a legal framework for protecting genetic resources, but the framework for investing in new biotechnology is still not clear, as Karla Roxana Aispuro Castro and Mariana González Vargas of Becerril, Coca & Becerril report. 27 November 2014