In Case C-364/13 International Stem Cell Corporation (ISCC) v. Comptroller General of Patents (December 18th, 2014), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) distinguished its’ earlier ruling in Brüstle v. Greenpeace (Brüstle) with regard to non-fertilized human ova stimulated by parthenogenesis. The Court found that in order to be considered a ‘human embryo’- and thus to be unpatentable

While pluralism and minimum harmonisation may have advantages concerning substantive requirements for IP protection there is an argument to be made in favour of establishing further harmonisation concerning rules and principles for legal interpretation of international or regional IP treaties, conventions and other legal instruments. Increasing autonomy of IP Law as a legal discipline and the deve

The present article was presented at the ATRIP Congress 2015. The main question addressed is whether reinterpretation, reformulation or replacement of Article 53 (c) of the European Patent Convention is viable and advisable. The issue is addressed by reference to both novel and resurfacing interpretative concerns connected with emerging technologies exemplified by nanomedicine, but also considerin

In its judgment in International Stem Cell Corporation v Comptroller General of Patents (ISCO) rendered on 18th December 2014, the CJEU qualified its’ earlier ruling in Brüstle v. Greenpeace (Brüstle) with regard to non-fertilised human ovums stimulated by parthenogenesis. The Court held that in order to constitute a ‘human embryo’ and thus to be unpatentable under the EU Biotechnology Directive,

On 25 March 2015, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EBA) finally delivered its’ much awaited decisions on the consolidated referrals G2/12 (“Tomato II”) and G2/13 (“Broccoli II”). The EBA affirmed that products, namely plants or parts thereof, obtained by essentially biological processes are – unlike individual plant varieties – principally patentable under the European P

This article explores how to apply patentability rules to human enhancement, particularly focusing on Article 53(c) of the European Patent Convention (EPC).The global size and value of the cosmetic and wellness market and industry allow for the prediction of considerable market potential for human enhancement. Patents will be instrumental for companies to protect investment in innovation and tap i

The present article is the conclusion of a review of economic justifications for patent rights conducted with the objective of determining whether such arguments are per se capable of sustaining the existence of a different patentability regime for inventions of methods for treatment and diagnostic methods (art.53 (c) European Patent Convention). It starts by exploring the normative background and

Starting from a Global South perspective, this chapter presents a brief overview of the potential of nanotechnology to serve either as vehicle for broader attainability of human rights or to undermine current efforts. Particular attention is drawn to the complex interconnected issues of ensuring even access to the benefits of technological development and the need to maintain adequate levels of ec

The semantics of the particle le in Mandarin Chinese has been hotly debated in both Chinese and non-Chinese linguistic literature in particular during the past 25 years. Le is a post verbal particle, which also occurs in sentence final position. This syntactic flexibility and the fact that the presence of le seems to render distinct default readings depending on its syntactic position has given ri

Aspecuality, temporality and modality: a relevance-theoretic analysisof some pragmatic markers in Mandarin Chinese It is generally agreed that in Mandarin Chinese, tense (at least absolute tense) is not expressedmorphologically but there is a number of verbal and sentence-final particles that express aspect and mood. These (in particular the aspectual ones) have been studied rather extensively thr

The precise characterization of femtosecond laser pulses is as challenging as their generation and a topic of intense research. Dispersion-scan (d-scan) [1] is a recently established technique where the spectrum of a nonlinear signal, e.g., second-harmonic generation (SHG), is measured as a function of dispersion applied to the pulse. The spectral phase of the pulse can then be retrieved from the

Tillgängliga forskningsresultat om samband mellan radikalisering, terrorism och psykisk ohälsa kan ännu inte användas som underlag för beslut om ändrade rutiner eller behandlingsmetoder i klinisk psykiatrisk verksamhet. De screening- och riskbedömningsverktyg som finns tillgängliga för kliniskt bruk går inte att använda inom psykiatrin utan att psykiatrins roll i det svenska samhäl-let allvarligt There is little evidence supporting the concept of mental illness as a part of, or reason behind radicalization towards violent extremism and terrorism. There is weak evidence that lone gunmen, particularly those involved in school shootings, may suffer from mental illness to a larger degree than the general population, whereas organized terrorist groups such as jihadists and right-wing extremists

Food law, and food labelling, establishes the rights of consumers to safe food and to accurate and honest information. Although food safety is at the core of food information, the broad principle of the food law is about telling the truth about products so that the consumer can make a choice about what they choose to eat. However, food law and labelling can also become a trade barrier and thus con

Many B-cell neoplasms are associated with autoimmune diseases (AIDs) but most evidence is based on a personal rather than a family history of AIDs. Here we calculated risks for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and multiple myeloma (MM) when family members were diagnosed with any of 44 different AIDs, or, independently, risk for AIDs when family members were diagnosed with a neopla

Formulaic language is a crucial component of language overall, and therefore merits the development of tests capable of yielding valid and reliable scores. However, the diverse nature of formulaic language poses challenges for test design. This chapter will critique existing tests of formulaic language and discuss principles for the development of future tests. Key issues include construct definit