A patent right provides the first and foremost form of protection for inventions. Patent regimes exist in almost every country. Despite convergence specially pushed through TRIPS, there are still important differences between these regimes. Lesser forms of patent protection for inventions,...

In this contribution we explore the possibilities and use of mediation clauses in bye-laws. We first explore the concept of mediation, the many definitions and different styles and approaches and define what we consider mediation in its strict sense. We then explore the use and practice of...

This paper examines the impact of commorientes (the situation where two or more people die in circumstances where the order of death is unclear) on the law of succession and on joint tenancies. As well as considering the law of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, it also looks at the...

A property right (ius in rem, real right) is an abstract legal concept which relates to an object, referred to as “thing” or “res,” or imprecisely, but commonly, “property.” This object of property is a product of legal categorisation; it may be represented by a physical thing or it...

Patent law defines novelty by the creation of a new embodiment, not an idea. For example, the Wright brothers are deemed to have invented the airplane because nobody made an airplane before, and not because they were the first to think of flying. Patent law then defines monopoly scope through a...

This article argues that a resource held in tenancy in common is likely to be underused and underinvested, and is thus better characterized as an anticommons. Nevertheless, tenancy in common does not necessarily create tragedy, as under most legal regimes each co-tenant has a right to petition...

This paper discusses how clerical errors made in documents relating to patents should be dealt with. It takes as its cue a recent case that overturned the Canadian Patent Office’s refusal to correct an error – a patent agent’s supply of the wrong serial number of a patent when remitting...

This essay argues that the liberal conception of private property is not a solution to anthropogenic climate change but, rather, the source of the problem. The concept of private property facilitates the human activities that cause anthropogenic climate change, and the resulting human...

Much recent literature has characterized the Federal Circuit’s patent scope jurisprudence as “formalistic.” Another extensive set of literature has characterized the Federal Circuit’s patent scope jurisprudence as wildly indeterministic. If formalism is defined as decision-making...

At the start of the Industrial Revolution, patentees created many novel and complex transactions to commercialize their property: they maximized their profits through sophisticated agreements that imposed restrictions on manufacturing, sales, and other uses of their inventions. When these...