The Box Innovations v. Travel Caddy 37 CFR § 1.27(a) defines what is a small entity according to the USPTO. Essentially, 37 CFR § 1.27(a) defines a small entity as individual or small business that has only transferred any of it patent rights to another party that is also a person, small business concern, or [...]
C. Human Impact of International Intellectual Property Law and Policy Although the main goal of the Medicines Act was to lower the price of AIDS medicine, the pharmaceutical industries, in the United States and Europe, complained that the act was too broad. [1]The act contained the specific language that “drug patent rights shall not extend [...]
B. PROBLEMS WITH ACCESS TO ANTIVIRIALS IN SOUTH AFRICA The traditional rational of intellectual property is that society benefits from inventors researching and developing new innovations which are shared with the public. [1] More specifically, the potential benefits of the South African intellectual property system is to increase foreign and domestic investment for research and [...]
II. IMPLICATIONS BECAUSE AFRICA IS STILL IN A STATE OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY Currently, the main goal of any act dealing with AIDS vaccinations is to provide access and affordable medicine to countries in need. One such country is South Africa. Obtaining antivirals in the South Africa can range from $750- $2000 annually. [1]Problems dealing with [...]
D. Stronger Intellectual Property protection through TRIPS-Plus Trade Agreements and FTAs As previously stated, developed nations, such as the United States, are in favor or stronger intellectual property rights. Whereas, developing nations, such as South Africa, are in favor of weaker intellectual property rights. This is due to the fact that developed nations profit from [...]
Parallel Importation As previously stated, parallel importation is another method that may be used to reduce antiviral prices in Africa. Parallel importation is the process by which the original licensed purchaser buys a product and correspondingly sells it to a non-licensed third party.[1] Because pharmaceutical companies sell drugs at different prices to different nation, parallel [...]
A. Patent Rights Under TRIPS TRIPS is the only agreement established by the World Trade Organization that specifically covers intellectual property rights.[1] The TRIPS agreement sets a minimum standard for international intellectual property protection and allows individual nations to control their domestic intellectual property laws. Furthermore, when the WTO agreed to TRIPS, many different factors [...]
Written by an Austin Patent Attorney in 2009 and recently updated in 2012, this blog series will examine how South Africa complies with TRIPS and advocates that South Africa will benefit in the long term from strong international patent protection and intellectual property laws. Further, this blog post advocates that intellectual property and patent laws [...]
Many inventions that are created are combinations of elements that are already in the public domain. I question that I frequently get asked, is “What is the standard required for patentability if I am combining a couple of elements from different inventions to create something better?” This blog post by an Austin, TX Patent Attorney [...]
1) It is important to include figures detailing each and every novel feature of your invention. As a patent attorney, inventors who have created a mechanical invention will typically only provide me with a couple of figures detailing only the most specific features of their invention without taking into considerations different ways a product could [...]