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Simon Lester

More on E-Cigarettes

In response to the Economist articles on e-cigarettes that I mentioned recently -- which noted that "a switch from smoking to vaping could improve public health, some say" -- a couple of the letters to the editor make clear that there are differing views out there. Here is

Why Can't We Discriminate in Relation to Patents Based on the Field of Technology?

Article 27.1 of the TRIPS Agreement says: "patents shall be available and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the ... the field of technology." The law is pretty clear, and doesn't leave much wiggle room. But why is that the rule? Why shouldn't

BIICL 13th Annual WTO Conference

BIICL 13th Annual WTO Conference Wednesday 15 May 2013 and Thursday 16 May 2013 BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JP British Institute of International and Comparative Law, organized in association with the Institute of International Economic Law at Georgetown Law, the Journal of International Economic Law, the Society of

More Support for India's Patent Policies

From economists Joseph Stiglitz and Arjun Jayadev: The Indian Supreme Court’s refusal to uphold the patent on Gleevec, the blockbuster cancer drug developed by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, is good news for many of those in India suffering from cancer. If other developing countries follow India’s example,

"Is India undervaluing patents or is the rest of the world overvaluing them?"

Economist Arvind Subramanian comments on the Indian Supreme Court's Novartis ruling: Critics have suggested that India is a deviant for being the only country where Novartis’ claim has been rejected. Left out is the fact that even in the United States, the Novartis application—which was really for

Food Labelling: Can There Be Too Much Information?

A couple weeks ago, I asked the following question in relation to the U.S. COOL measure: "What will consumers think of seeing details on where the animal was 'born, raised, and slaughtered' on every package of meat?" CNN's Jake Tapper was intrigued by

Is This One of Those Regulatory Trade Barriers Everyone Is Talking About?

One of the big issues in the US-EU trade talks is supposedly going to be "regulatory trade barriers." Everyone agrees there are significant economic gains to be had by eliminating these barriers. And I can imagine there are. But one problem is, it is not really clear what

Novartis, the Indian Supreme Court, and TRIPS

The Washington Post reports on a big patent decision at the Indian Supreme Court: India’s Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Swiss pharmaceutical company’s effort to patent an updated version of its cancer drug, a decision aimed at boosting a domestic generic drug manufacturing industry that supplies cheap

Cybersecurity and Trade Conflict

Over at Opinio Juris, Roger Alford talks about some new U.S. cybersecurity legislation that bars federal government purchases of IT equipment “produced, manufactured or assembled” by entities “owned, directed, or subsidized by the People’s Republic of China” unless the head of the purchasing agency consults with the FBI

Is the Biggest Trade in Cigarettes Battle Still Looming?

There has been a lot of excitement in the area of trade in cigarettes in recent years. We've had the Clove Cigarettes case. The Australian Plain Packaging case is starting up, and might spread if others adopt plain packaging. Trade concerns have been raised about Canadian rules on