John Lambert lives the comfortable life of a Washington DC government bureaucrat. He has successfully navigated his way through the maze of the United States Patent Office to become the agency's director. His idyllic life is abruptly interrupted when the President's Chief of Staff orders him to a meeting in the Oval Office. What follows is a sarcastic and satiric look at the federal government, reality television, and first contact with extra-terrestrials
Who Owns You? is a comprehensive exploration of the numerous philosophical and legal problems of gene patenting. Provides the first comprehensive book-length treatment of this subject Develops arguments regarding moral realism, and provides a method of judgment that attempts to be ideologically neutral Calls for public attention and policy changes to end the practice of gene patenting
The Plaintiff, Universal Patents, Inc., was heartless. The judge, Rex "Spider" Speyer was merciless. Ellen Welles' case seemed hopeless. Unless her lawyer could locate the mad creator of FAUST - the robot-inventor who'd given Universal Patents its stranglehold on the world economy - she was sure to die for patent infringement, a capital crime in the twenty-first century. Quentin Thomas, Ellen's lawyer, already knew that the judge was a psychopath, and he quickly learned just how dirty Universal could play...
A gripping inside look at high-stakes lawyering, A Patent Lie is further evidence that Paul Goldstein is an emerging master of the legal thriller.After being forced from his high-powered Manhattan law firm, Michael Seeley—the tough-but-wounded hero of Errors and Omissions—has set up shop in his native Buffalo. Partly out of need, partly out of pride, Seeley takes on a case for his estranged brother, whose small biotech firm is suing a Swiss pharmaceutical giant over a controversial new AIDS vaccine. Seeley heads out to Silicon Valley to lead the case, but soon realizes there is much more at stake than he was first led to believe. As certain partnerships come to light, and financial gains become staggeringly clear, Seeley's own life may be in grave danger.
The 2nd Edition of Who Owns You, David Koepsell’s widely acclaimed exploration of the philosophical and legal problems of patenting human genes, is updated to reflect the most recent changes to the cultural and legal climate relating to the practice of gene patenting. Lays bare the theoretical assumptions that underpin the injustice of patents on unmodified genes Makes a unique argument for a commons-by-necessity, explaining how parts of the universe are simply not susceptible to monopoly claims Represents the only work that attempts to first define the nature of the genetic objects involved before any ethical conclusions are reached Provides the most comprehensive accounting of the various lawsuits, legislative changes, and the public debate surrounding AMP v. Myriad, the most significant case regarding gene patents
From Babylon to the Silicon Valley—The Origins and Evolution of Intellectual Property A Sourcebook Nuno Pires de Carvalho At its core, intellectual property today is the same as it was six thousand years ago: an instrument for the assertion of the identities of merchants and manufacturers in their struggle to lure customers with honesty and fairness. It arises spontaneously whenever and wherever entrepreneurs carry out their professions in an environment of competition. This masterful book, the first of its kind, presents more than two hundred sources going back to ancient Egypt, sharply detailing the evolution of intellectual property right up to its current prominence in global trade and international law. Highlighting important moments in the evolution of the intellectual property, the author—one of the world’s best known authorities in the field—assembles his chosen sources in a way that sheds definitive light on such aspects as the following: early origins in the appropriation of differentiating assets by merchants and manufacturers; evolution of trademark law up to the adoption of the TRIPS Agreement; evolution of patent law, demonstrating in detail how English and U.S. courts moulded its modern interpretation; differentiation of industrial designs; the comparatively modern development of trade secrets law; origins and evolution of international protection through treaties and free trade agreements; and the prodigious expansion of intellectual property law in the past few decades to previously unprotected areas of business and professional activity. The sources—many translated into English for the first time—are preceded when appropriate by brief notes explaining their context and relevance. The book closes with a chapter on contemporary debates, such as new areas of protection and new social controversies. As a compilation of sources that would be otherwise unavailable to most readers, this factual and impartial account of why and how intellectual property has emerged and evolved is a treasure trove for all those interested in how the imperatives of civilization have designed and continue to design the scope and the limits of intellectual property. The book will be warmly welcomed by practitioners seeking a deeper understanding of their working tools, as well as by academics, government officials, and relevant international organizations around the world.
In this volume the author describes more than 3000 short stories, novels, and plays with science fiction elements, from earliest times to 1930. He includes imaginary voyages, utopias, Victorian boys' books, dime novels, pulp magazine stories, British scientific romances and mainstream work with science fiction elements. Many of these publications are extremely rare, surviving in only a handful of copies, and most of them have never been described before.
For readers of Bad Blood and Empire of Pain, an authoritative look at monopoly medicine from the dawn of patents through the race for COVID-19 vaccines and how the privatization of public science has prioritized profits over people Owning the Sun tells the story of one of the most contentious fights in human history: the legal right to produce lifesaving medicines. Medical science began as a discipline geared toward the betterment of all human life, but the merging of research with intellectual property and the rise of the pharmaceutical industry warped and eventually undermined its ethical foundations. Since World War II, federally funded research has facilitated most major medical breakthroughs, yet these drugs are often wholly controlled by price-gouging corporations with growing international ambitions. Why does the U.S. government fund the development of medical science in the name of the public only to relinquish exclusive rights to drug companies, and how does such a system impoverish us, weaken our responses to crises, and, as in the cases of AIDS and COVID-19, put the world at risk? Outlining how generations of public health and science advocates have attempted to hold the line against Big Pharma and their allies in government, Alexander Zaitchik’s first-of-its-kind history documents the rise of privatized medicine in the United States and its subsequent globalization. From the controversial arrival of patent-wielding German drug firms in the late nineteenth century to present-day coordination between industry and philanthropic organizations—including the influential Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—that stymie international efforts to vaccinate the world against COVID-19, Owning the Sun tells one of the most important and least understood histories of our time.
