Coalitions, Power and Institutional Change in Global Patent Politics. IES WORKING PAPER 2/2013

With the 1995 Agreement on Trade - related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a centralised rule - system for the international governance of patents was put in place under the general framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Since then, the number of patent – related institutions has increased monotonically on the multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral levels. I will explain this case of institutional change by focusing on the norm – setting activities of both industrialised and developing countries, arguing that both groups constitute internally highly cohesive coalitions in global patent politics, while institutional change occurs when both coalitions engage in those negotiating settings in which they enjoy a comparative advantage over the other coalition. Specifically, I make the point that industrialised countries’ norm – setting activities take place on the plurilateral and bilateral level, where economic factors can be effectively translated into political outcomes while simultaneously avoiding unacceptably high legitimacy costs; whereas developing countries, on the other hand, use various multilateral United Nations (UN) forums where their claims possess a high degree of legitimacy, but cannot translate into effective political outcomes. The paper concludes with some remarks on how this case yields new insights into ongoing debates in institutionalist International Relations (IR), as pertaining to present discussions on “regime complexity”.

Unified European Front: The Road towards a European Unitary Patent. EU Centre Singapore Working Paper No. 21, March 2014

For over forty years, European countries have held numerous conferences and signed multiple international agreements aimed at either creating a unitary patent which will be valid in all European countries upon issuance or establishing a specialized European court with jurisdiction over patents. This paper first outlines the need for a unitary patent in the European Union and then chronicles the measures taken to support and milestones toward the creation of a European-wide unitary patent system. The paper then discusses the few problems and pitfalls that have prevented European countries from coming to an agreement on such a patent system. Finally, the paper considers the closely related agreements of ‘Unitary Patent Package’, the challenges facing these agreements and examines if it would finally result in an EU Unitary patent system that benefits one and all.

Challenges to the Patent System in face of Open Hardware

Dannie Jost gave a presentation outlining some of the challenges to the patent system presented by open source hardware at the "Open Knowledge Festival", under the topic stream treating open design, hardware, manufacturing and making; September 19, 2012; Helsinki, Finland. This topic stream generated considerable discussion, and it serves to educate an audience that is usually very adverse to patents and copyright, and helps the researcher understand the issuing conflicts surrounding emerging technologies, in particular digital technologies, and the maker movement (digitally enabled).

Third report on the American patent system. : Message from the President of the United States, transmitting the third report of the National patent planning commission.

Mode of access: Internet.

Government patent policy. : Hearings before the Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Eighty-seventh Congress, first session, pursuant to S. Res. 55 on S. 1084 and S. 1176.

Mode of access: Internet.

The American patent system : message from the president of the United States transmitting the report of the National Patent Planning Commission ... June 18, 1943.

Mode of access: Internet.

A Guide to filing a design patent application.

Revised May 1998.

Court of Customs and Patent Appeals reports.

Vols. issued in 2 pts., each having also a distinctive title: Customs cases adjudged ... ; Patent cases adjudged ...

Cartels and international patent agreements /

Mode of access: Internet.