Recent scholarship has begun to assess the role of intellectual property rights in the theory of the Coasean firm. Some of this scholarship has looked at the effects of intellectual property on decisions to "make or buy" inputs to production. Other scholarship has looked at the effects of...

Recent years have seen a remarkable increase in patents in the field of information, communication and entertainment (ICE) technology and biotechnology. The growth of patents in those areas has triggered serious concern about access to ICE and genome related inventions, as the rise of patents...

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...

A variety of commentators have called for the increased application of liability rules, including compulsory licenses, to intellectual property. Such arguments are well taken, but unfortunately stop short of advocating the full range of potential intellectual property entitlement allocations....

Concerns have been expressed that gene patents might result in restricted access to research and health care. The exponential growth of patents claiming human DNA sequences might result in patent thickets, royalty stacking and, ultimately, a ‘tragedy of the anti-commons’ in genetics. The...

Upon request of the Netherlands Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality a study has been conducted into the future of plant breeding in the light of developments around plant breeder’s rights and patent rights. The following questions were formulated: Present a review of the trends in...

The present paper examines the relationship between price differentiation and intellectual property rights (IPRs). We explore this relation from two opposing, yet complementary angles. First, we investigate whether IPRs form a barrier to differential pricing. Do pharmaceutical patents hinder the...

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...

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...