Part I of this course examines patent law in general. Each of the 7 modules contains (a) a recorded lecture (roughly 90 minutes in length) that describes a major dimension of the patent system and (b) a set of readings that juxtapose the ways in which an important issue within that dimension is currently addressed in several jurisdictions.
Part II considers how patent law (and other aspects of the legal system) might be leveraged or modified in order to mitigate the ongoing global health crisis. The first of its five modules considers the causes and roots of that crisis. The remaining four modules examine a variety of ways in which we might mitigate it — and reduce the probability of future crises.
Course Introduction (Fisher)
Introductory lecture (Fisher) (12 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
Part I: Patent Law
Module 101: An Overview of the Patent System
- Lecture: Patent Fundamentals (Fisher)
- Part A: Obtaining Patents (29 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Matt Bryan, The Patent Cooperation Treaty (24 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part B: Exploiting Patents (17 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part C: Enforcing and Challenging Patents (29 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part A: Obtaining Patents (29 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Discussion: Employee Inventions
- Germany: “Patent Assignments and The German Act On Employee Inventions” (2021)
- China: Jennifer Che & Sally Yu, “How Far Can an Employer Reach to Own Employee-made “Service Inventions”?” (China Patent Strategy 2020)
- India: Kartikeya Prakash, “The Dilemma of Employer-Employee Patent Ownership in India” (2021)
- Brazil: Industrial Property Law, Articles 88-93; Ownership of patents arising from employee’s inventions
Module 102: Eligibility
- Lecture: Patentable Subject Matter (Fisher)
- Part A: Expansion [Required] (48 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part B: Harmonization [Required] (25 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part C: Contraction [Optional] (39 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Discussion Option A: Software Patents
- Europe: European Patent Office, “Hardware and Software”
- China: “China’s new guidelines – Good news for software patents” (Deacons 2021)
- India: Barooah, “The Ping-Ponging Paradigm of Patenting Computer Programmes in India” (2020)
- South Africa: Jwambi and Kutumane v. Nedbank (ongoing)
- Kenya: Mwaura v. Kenya Industrial Property Institute (2018)
- Discussion Option B: The TRIPS Agreement
- TRIPS Articles 27-34
- Interview with Jayashree Watal (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
Module 103: Utility and Disclosure
- Lecture: Utility and Disclosure (Fisher)
- Part A: Utility (35 Minutes) (Vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part B: Disclosure (21 Minutes) (Vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Discussion: Sufficiency
- China: Zhizhen Intelligent v. Apple (2020)
- India: Aparna Kareer and Sneha Agarwal, “Too much information or not quite enough? Experimental data in Indian patent applications” (2021)
- Lessons from COVID-19: Peter Lee, “New and Heightened Public-Private Quid Pro Quos: Leveraging Public Support to Enhance Private Technical Disclosure” (2022)
Module 104: Newness
- Lecture: Newness (Fisher)
- Part A: Novelty & Statutory Bars (49 minutes) (Vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part B: The Inventive Step (38 Minutes) (Vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Discussion: The Inventive Step Requirement
Module 105: Claims
- Lecture: Patent Scope (Fisher)
- Part A: Claim Construction (46 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part B: Patent Duration (29 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Discussion: Claim Construction
Module 106: Infringement
- Lecture: Infringement (Fisher)
- Part A: Forbidden Conduct (40 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part B: Defenses and Limitations (58 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Discussion: Exhaustion and Differential Pricing
- USA: Impression Products v. Lexmark (SCOTUS 2017) [abridged]
- Europe: Katharine Stephens, “Brexit: Exhaustion of Intellectual Property rights” (2021)
- China: Hui Zhang, Richard Li, and Hanmei Wang, “Patent Exhaustion, Implied License and Contributory Infringement” (2017)
- India: Astha Sharma & Krishnaja Saseendran, “Parallel Importation under the Indian Patent Act” (2022)
- Nigeria: Okojie, “The Effects of Parallel Importation on the Nigerian Healthcare Industry” (2016)
Module 107: Remedies
- Lecture: Remedies for Patent Infringement (Fisher)
- Part A: Damages and Penalties (38 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Part B: Equitable Relief (42 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Discussion: Patent Injunctions
- Europe: “Recent Developments Regarding Patent Injunctions In Germany” (Morrison Foerster, June 23, 2021)
- China: Luo Rui, “The power of administrative injunctions in patent infringement,” China Business Law Journal, November 2, 2021
- India: Natco Pharma Ltd vs Bristol Myers Squibb Holdings (Delhi High Court 2019)
Part II: Responding to the Global Health Crisis
Module 201: The Global Health Crisis
- Lecture: The Global Health Crisis (Fisher) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Readings:
Module 202: Improving Pharmaceutical Markets
- Lectures
- Improving Pharmaceutical Markets (Fisher) (58 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Voluntary Licensing (20 minutes) (Vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Clifford Samuel, former Senior Vice President, Gilead Sciences
- Claudio Lilienfeld, former Senior Director, International Government Affairs, Gilead Sciences
- Readings:
Module 203: Improving Intellectual Property
- Lecture:
- Adjusting Patent Law (Fisher) (50 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Readings:
- IFPMA, “Boosting Innovation and Access”
- Fisher & Rigamonti, “The South Africa AIDS Controversy: A Case Study in Patent Law and Policy” (2005)
- Okediji, Case Study on Compulsory Licensing, Bolivia, and COVID Vaccines (2022)
- United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, Final Report, pages 21-32
Module 204: Alternative Incentive Systems
- Lecture: Potential Alternatives to Intellectual Property: Grants, Prizes, and Regulations (Fisher) (38 minutes) (vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Readings:
Module 205: Looking Forward
- Lectures:
- Coronavirus: The Big Questions (Bill Gates) (interview with Financial Times, 2019) (22 minutes)
- Preparation for the Next Pandemic (Ashish Jha) (20 minutes) (Vimeo version) (mp4 version)
- Reading:
- Haochen Sun & Madhavi Sunder, “Intellectual Property, COVID-19, and the Next Pandemic: Diagnosing Problems, Developing Cures” (2022)
- Matthew Kavanagh, “Legal Paradigms and the Politics of Global COVID-19 Vaccine Access” (2022)
- Sapna Kumar & Ana Santos Rutschman, “New Licensing Avenues to Promote Public Health” (2022)