The present paper explores the multi-layered relationship between plant patents, the right to food and competition law. The present contribution takes the view that the growing tendency to appropriate agricultural crops through intellectual property (IP) – thereby making a pivotal shift from...

In the delicate interaction between intellectual property and public interest, two antinomian questions come to the fore. The first question is to what extent patent law guarantees public interest, contributes to public interest or, on the contrary, limits public interest. The second question is...

Intellectual property rights have, from their inception, been shaped by international treaties. National legislators have had to look at the international scene to gain some insight into the prevailing intellectual property standards. This trend was less prominent in the field of patent law and...

The production of biodiversity-based drugs has gained wide interest and concern. Two main approaches can be observed. The majority of legal thinking has been focusing on models protecting (and preserving) biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge to fit the needs of biodiversity and...

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 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...

This paper analyses whether strategic motives for patenting influence the characteristics of companies' patent portfolios. We use the number of citations and oppositions to represent these characteristics. The investigation is based on survey and patent data from German companies. We find clear...

By using the PatVal-EU dataset we find that the most important determinant of patent licensing is firm size. Patent breadth, value, protection, and other factors suggested by the literature also have an impact, but not as important. In addition, most of these factors affect the willingness to...