Category Archives: General

Louisiana Seeks Fed Help to Get Generic Hep C Drugs

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on May 4, 2017

Louisiana’s Secretary of Health, Dr. Rebekah Gee, is attempting to persuade politicians to support the use of 28 USC § 1498, a federal statute that allows the federal government intentionally to infringe patents, to arrange for production of Gilead Sciences’s … Continue reading →

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Canadian Supreme Court: Claimants May Seek to Enforce Ecuadorian Judgment against Chevron in Ontario

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on October 11, 2015

On 4 September 2015, Canada’s highest court dismissed arguments by US petrochemical company Chevron that Canadian courts cannot hear proceedings to enforce the US$ 9.51 billion judgment of an Ecuadorian court against it. Chevron Corp. v. Yaiguaje, 2015 SCC 42. The … Continue reading →

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3 Months in Spanish Prison for Plant Variety Rights Infringement

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on September 9, 2014

On July 10, 2014, a criminal court in southwestern Spain sentenced a grower of carnation flowers to three months in prison, plus a fine of € 360 EUR, for infringing plant variety rights in violation of Article 274.3 of the … Continue reading →

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Ecuador: Change Constitution to Protect Traditional Knowledge

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on September 8, 2014

  Ecuador’s national government has proposed to amend the country’s constitution to provide special protections against the misappropriation of traditional knowledge and biological diversity. Propuesta de enmiendas constitucionales sobre la protección de los Saberes Ancestrales y la Biodiversidad del Ecuador, Secretaría … Continue reading →

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Australian Full Federal Court Upholds Myriad Gene Patent

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on September 5, 2014

Today, in D’Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc [2014] FCAFC 115, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia upheld the validity of Myriad Genetics’s Australian patent on methods and materials relating to the human  gene known as BRCA1. THE BRCA1 GENE. … Continue reading →

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Guatemalan Protesters Demand Repeal of Plant Variety Rights Law

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on September 2, 2014

In demonstrations today in Guatemala City, Guatemala, public officials and thousands of residents of indigenous communities demanded that the national legislature repeal the recently-enacted Plant Variety Rights Law. See Diputados se comprometen a derogar Ley Monsanto, Prensa Libre (2 Sept. … Continue reading →

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Fair Use Bars Copyright Infringement in Politician Photo Case

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on March 26, 2014

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held that the fair use doctrine barred copyright claims by a politician and lawyer against the operators of a website that reproduced her photo without her permission. Dhillon v. Does 1-10, No. … Continue reading →

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Challenge to IRS “Nonenforcement” of Church Political Activity Ban Survives

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on August 28, 2013

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin declined to dismiss a nonprofit foundation’s lawsuit against the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), challenging what it characterized as that agency’s policy of not enforcing a legal requirement that tax-exempt … Continue reading →

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Hearing Scheduled on IRS Colleges & Universities Tax-Exempt Compliance Project

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on May 2, 2013

On May 1, 2013, Congressman Charles W. Boustany, Jr., MD (R-LA) announced that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s recent report on tax-exempt compliance by U.S. nonprofit colleges and universities will be the subject of a hearing on May 8 by … Continue reading →

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Canada: Employee Had Valid Privacy Expectation In Workplace Computer Despite Employer Policy To Contrary

by Shawn Sullivan Posted on October 28, 2012

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that an employee may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of his workplace computer, even though the employer’s policies disavow any privacy interest. R. v. Cole, 2012 SCC 53 (Canada Oct. … Continue reading →

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