The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) administered by the World Trade Organization affects a wide range of domestic public policies and industry practices in biotechnology. With the advent of global patent protection for biotechnology, Brazil faces a significant dilemma. It is necessary for Brazil to comply with international intellectual property (IP) standards while simultaneous protecting its local industry and stimulating local innovation. To this end, this thesis investigates whether or not the current IP rights-dependent business models prevailing within Western industry deprive scientists, especially in the developing world, of equitable access to biotechnology techniques, and hinders their participation in research and development by restricting access to research techniques. Drawing on the case study of Brazil, the thesis identifies key issues relevant to biotechnology, IP rights and Open Scientific Innovation (OSI) as an approach to the management of IPRs. Based on an understanding of the international and Brazilian post-TRIPS scenario, the thesis specifically addresses one central question: Is OSI feasible and desirable in the Brazilian context? It is intended that the research findings contribute significantly to the body of knowledge in relation to innovation policies. Overall, it is hoped that the findings of this thesis will promote innovation in the Brazilian biotechnology sector.

This research project consists of a critical analysis of the role of intellectual property amongst other factors in the successful commercial development at the Cavendish Laboratory of optoelectronic light emitting diode display devices based on novel organic semiconductor materials. It begins by giving the background to the quantum mechanical properties upon which the technology is based, followed by a discussion of the path of innovation, describing the interaction between the different socioeconomic factors that influence this path. It then draws an analogy with the development of an analogous technology - inorganic semiconductors - to signpost the factors that may affect the developmental history of the technology. This is followed by an analysis of a chronology derived initially from patents downloaded from the World Patents Database of the European Patent Office to showcase the technology's development steps, and to study the patenting strategy of Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) - the company that was set up to commercialise the novel technology - through a patent trends analysis. From that, the major socioeconomic factors critical to the technology's development are analysed, followed by a test and extension of an existing Black Box mathematical model for studying the dynamics of innovation that is based on the interaction of those factors. Finally, through a patent citation analysis, CDT's commercial strategy for the technology is shown as being based on its patents portfolio to build an extensive licensing programme that pooled major academic, industry and commercial partners for the furtherance of the technology. This later evolved into a new ecosystem for the innovation, of which CDT occupied a central and indispensable position.

The social scientific study of globalization's increasing flows of commodities, financing, knowledge, media, and people has been a productive ground for investigating changing connections among geographically distant people and their consequences. In spite of this recent focus on movement and flows, however, I suggest that our knowledge of globalization is incomplete without an understanding of the infrastructures of stoppage that underlie and determine the ongoing shape and directionalities of that movement. This dissertation lays out an argument for patents as one such critical legal infrastructure of global stoppage that provides unique insight into the changing roles and challenges confronting China and Taiwan within global systems of production, consumption, creativity, and copying. The dissertation's ethnography of patents in practice is based on 20 months of fieldwork on the production of technological knowledge and property in it within a Taiwanese LED (light emitting diode) company that produces patents between Taiwan and the United States and products between Taiwan and China. I argue that the processes by which knowledge is extracted and translated from the lab to the law decouples the knowledge from its origins in machines, materials, and engineers. This decoupling enables patents to circulate separately from these and provides owners with new control over global flows of engineers, tangible commodities, and usable knowledge. Alongside my Taiwanese interlocutors, I argue that patents are best understood as weapons of competition: more similar to non-disclosure agreements or aggressive pricing tactics than copyright or other forms of “intellectual property.” As weapons, the deployment of patents encourages the production of new patents much more than it does technological innovation. As they are currently practiced, patents therefore enable flows, but do so only in particular directions. It is through this stoppage that high tech patents create and maintain global divisions of labor, profit, and environmental risk.

This thesis analyses the problematic relation between intellectual property (IP) and genetic conceptions of life. The ‘gene patent' has been controversial from its inception in the 1980s, and IP's definition of genetic sequences continues to undergo surprising changes. Recent examples include the contested overturn of some forms of gene patents in the US Supreme Court Myriad judgement, and continuing international debates about access and benefit sharing arrangements in the newly established Nagoya Protocol. The Myriad case confronted an international neoliberal bioeconomy with new demands of patients, which increasingly define their understanding of health and well-being in molecular terms. This thesis argues that the issues surrounding the patenting of genetic sequences go beyond an already widely criticised ‘commodification' of life, and points out that rather IP law is becoming a highly contested site in a wider problematization of the governing of life understood in molecular terms. Relying on an updated reading of Foucault's concepts of governmentality and biopolitics, it argues that informational-genetic conceptions of life have opened up a new sphere of intensified biopolitics, based on a ‘genetic dispositif' of knowledge and power. In its engagement with this dispositif, IP manages tensions between competing scientific knowledges about life, governs the participation of patients in medical research, and determines the rights of developing countries in an international bioeconomy. The analytical framework conceptualises these tensions as a confrontation with molecular biopower on three levels: in IP's changing understanding of DNA, in IP's relation to new ‘genetic' subjects and medical research charities, and in challenges to IP's exclusionary effects regarding the international sharing of benefits from research, and on demands for increased contributions to global health agendas. These challenges show how IP tactically contributes to the normalisation of knowledge, to the inclusion/exclusion of participation in the bioeconomy, and to the control of research agendas.

abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the shifting cultural norms of copyright law, and that concept’s impact on the performance and practice of artists producing original works of authorship. Although related concepts predate it, and today it exists as a subset of a broader category known as intellectual property, the purpose of copyright beginning with the United States Constitution was to allow for a temporary economic monopoly to an author of a fixed creative work. This monopoly was meant to incentivize authors to contribute to the public good with works that promote progress in science and art. However, increases over time in the scope and duration of copyright terms grant broader protections and controls for copyright owners today, while advances in technology have provided the public with the potential for near-limitless low-cost access to information. This creates a conflict between proprietary interest in creative works and the public’s right and ability to access and build on those works. The history of copyright law in America is rife with efforts to balance these competing interests. The methodology for this study consisted of flexible strategies for collecting and analyzing data, primarily elite, semi-structured interviews with professional artists, attorneys, and others who engage with the cultural and legal norms of intellectual property regimes on a regular basis. Constant comparative analysis was used to maintain an emic perspective, prioritizing the subjective experience of individuals interviewed for this research project. Additional methods for qualitative analysis were also employed here to code and categorize gathered data, including the use of RQDA, a software package for Qualitative Data Analysis that runs within the R statistical software program. Various patterns and behaviors relevant to intellectual property reforms as they relate to artist practices were discussed in detail following the analysis of findings, in an effort to describe how cultural norms of copyright intersect with the creation of original works of authorship, and towards the development of the theory that the semiotic sign systems subject to intellectual property laws are not themselves forms of real property, as they do not meet the categorical requirements of scarce resources. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Journalism and Mass Communication 2018

In my thesis, I discuss and analyze William Shakespeare’s utilization and adaptation of source texts within three of his dramas: Henry IV, Part I, a history; Twelfth Night, a comedy; and Julius Caesar, a tragedy. By comparing Shakespeare’s adaption of sources to the contemporary United Kingdom intellectual property policies, it becomes possible for me to determine whether Shakespeare’s extensive and popular dramas would violate modern copyright law. The first chapter, “Printing and Writing in the Early Modern Period,” discusses the development of proprietary interests among the Elizabethan people. I break down the individual components of the printing process in the early modern period and further consider how its creation affected writers and impacted the world at large. Additionally mentioned within this chapter are the United Kingdom’s initial attempts at regulating printed materials among publishers. The availability, pricing, and evolution of printed material is all discussed, as well as the imitative and collaborative writing process among Elizabethan dramatists and poets. The second chapter, “An Introduction and Brief History of Intellectual Property and Copyright,” addresses the United Kingdom’s current legislation on borrowing and infringing upon creative works. After an introduction to key terms within the intellectual property field, I provide a brief history on the evolution of copyright within the United Kingdom. After a discussion on property protection and rights for literary, dramatic, and artistic works, I cite the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as the key document from which I draw my conclusions on Shakespeare’s infringement of source texts within his plays. Chapters three, four, and five, focus on the individual analyses of source texts used by Shakespeare within each of his selected plays. While Shakespeare did borrow from a multitude of source texts, I strive to analyze his utilization of content within only his most primary source texts. Each chapter begins with a brief synopsis of the play, characters, and major themes. After each introduction, I devote multiple pages of text to comparing and contrasting Shakespeare’s imitation and utilization of primary source texts within his own works. At the end of each chapter, I calculate the age of each source text as it relates to the public domain and intellectual property law. Following chapter five, I use the combination of my analyses and personal understanding of copyright to render three separate verdicts on Shakespeare’s infringement of source materials within each of his plays. Alongside each verdict, I provide lawful reasoning for the individual outcome of each case. In the final pages, I draw a conclusion concerning Shakespeare’s infringement of source texts within his plays. It looks like one play clearly breaks the United Kingdom’s copyright laws, one play may or may not depending on further studies, and a third drama clearly does not constitute infringement. Furthermore, I offer a brief commentary on the reigning United Kingdom intellectual property laws based upon my analyses and verdicts.

The purpose of this study is to identify trends and issues related to college and university involvement in patent litigation. The study found 568 reported cases between 1980 through 2009. From this initial set of cases, detailed review identified 171 patent-related lawsuits involving a college or university. A three-pronged approach to analysis was then conducted. First, analysis focused on characteristics of the parties involved in litigation. Second, the types of patents at issue were analyzed. Third, the procedural and substantive results of the lawsuits were analyzed to identify patterns of activities which contributed to the university involvement in the lawsuit. The 85 universities identified in this study were most often public research universities suing corporations for infringement in order to protect their rights in a university-owned patent. These corporations were most frequently competitors of a corporation with whom the university had an existing licensing agreement. While most of the universities in this study were involved in only one lawsuit, a select few were involved in multiple lawsuits with five universities involved in one-fourth of the lawsuits in the cases identified. All the patents included in this study were utility patents, with pharmaceutical patents being the most common subject of litigation. About one-fourth of the lawsuits were decided for procedural reasons and more than one-third had indeterminate dispositions. When the court issued a substantive ruling, it was most often based on the technical requirements of patent law. When the universities' opposing party had an existing relationship with the university (patent licensees, research partner, faculty, staff, and students) the university was as often the plaintiff as it was the defendant. These cases provided the most salient lessons for university administrators looking to minimize the institution's risk of future patent litigation. The study concludes with recommendations focused on activities for a campus technology transfer office, as well as on ways to work with constituent groups of faculty, staff, and students to minimize the risk of future patent litigation.

Who cares about who owns online courses? Nobody, because that is not what the issue is really about. Ownership is an emotional issue, but controlling the rights of a copyrightable work is tangible and logical. The important question to answer is not who owns online courses, but who controls the rights of any copyrightable work. For universities and faculty members, getting over the emotional issues and down to the foundation of what is truly at stake is of major concern. While it is nearly impossible to create qualitative guidelines for copyright policies and/or contracts, it is eminently possible to examine existing policies and contracts and relate how a handful of universities are handling copyright and intellectual property issues pertaining to online courses. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a starting point for this complex transaction in the form of a resource tool that includes some basic background about copyright law, relevant case law related to "work-for-hire," and relevant academic freedom issues. The original work of this thesis is the creation of a tool, which reviews of a sampling of university policies pertaining to online copyright issues and ownership. Accordingly, the contribution this thesis makes to the understanding and clarification of universities policies related to online material copyright ownership will be important for faculty members and universities in two ways. First, it will help others develop better online copyright policies based on tangible issues rather than emotional ones. Second, this thesis can be a basis for others to build upon for future research on this important topic.

Intellectual Property (IP) based Integrated Circuit (IC) design is an established approach for the design of a complex System-on-Chip (SoC). Porting the preparatory designs to third-party without enough security margin exposes an attacker to perform reverse engineering (RE) on the designs and hence counterfeiting, IP theft etc., are common now-a-days. Design obfuscation can reduce RE attempt by an attacker. In this work, we propose a key based obfuscation and anonymization method for a behavioral IP. Given a behavioral VHDL description, the assignment and conditional statements are modified by incorporating random boolean operations with unique random key bits. The obfuscated VHDL is then anonymized by random identifiers. The resultant behavioral model can be simulated correctly upon application of original key sequence. Simulation results with nine datapath intensive benchmarks with three different lengths of test sequences show that the simulation overhead is negligible (only a few seconds). We evaluate the probability of reverse engineering the obfuscated design and show that it is extremely low.

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