Patent Law in Global Perspective

Patent Law in Global Perspective addresses critical and timely questions in patent law from a truly global perspective, with contributions from leading patent law scholars from various countries. Offering fresh insights and new approaches to evaluating key institutional, economic, doctrinal, and practical issues, these chapters reflect critical analyses and review developments in national patent laws, efforts to reform the global patent system, and reconfigure geopolitical interests.

Professors Ruth L. Okediji and Margo A. Bagley bring together the first collection to explore patent law issues through the lens of economic development theory, international relations, theoretical foundations for the patent law system in the global context, and more. Topics include: the role of patent law in economic development; the efficacy of patent rights in facilitating innovation; patents and access to medicines; comparative patentability standards (including subject matter eligibility for biotechnology and software inventions); limitations and exceptions to patent scope and protection (including exhaustion, compulsory licensing, and research exceptions); patents on plants and other living organisms; and the impact of emerging economies on global patent system governance. The contributors provide a wealth of original insight and thought-provoking discussion that will be of great interest and benefit to scholars, policymakers, and practitioners alike.

Ruth L. Okediji is the William L. Prosser Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. She is widely recognized as one of the foremost experts on the international intellectual property system, its intersection with multilateral trade regimes, and implications for economic development. Her scholarship focuses on the needs of developing countries and issues of global knowledge governance in the context of international institutions and public international law. Professor Okediji has provided expert advice to numerous countries in drafting national patent laws and in TRIPS implementation and compliance.

Margo A. Bagley is a Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. She is one of the leading scholars in the area of international and comparative patent law and policy. Her scholarship focuses on issues relating to patents and biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and technology transfer. Professor Bagley is a member of the board of directors of the Public Patent Foundation, and she served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on University Management of Intellectual Property: Lessons from a Generation of Experience, Research, and Dialogue. Professor Bagley also lectures in the Munich Intellectual Property Law Program at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany, and has taught courses in China and Singapore.