Latest blog articles

The grant of gene patents has been a highly contentious issue in the EU and US for many years. A new bill in the US proposes to lift the currently banned subject matter, with potentially severe effects.

The corona virus is causing education to move from offline to online. In the Netherlands, the government and higher education institutions announced last Thursday (12 March 2020) that all in-person education has to be replaced by online education. Online means more reliance on technology. So here...

Asylum-seekers at the Greek island of Lesbos are in a vulnerable position. They claim basic human rights and hold the Europeans accountable. What can a human rights scholar do? His role is limited. When there is no political will, compassion and solidarity are gone.

The Court of the European Union (CJEU), in case T-683/19 (European Union Court, Seventh Section, judgment of 12 December 2019) confirmed the decision by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO): a trade mark for a sign that makes an explicit reference to marijuana ought to be rejected...

Is the design of a pair of jeans a matter of industrial property under design law, or should it also be considered as a ‘work of artistic creation’ under copyright? 

The protection of ‘offensive’, ‘scandalous’ and ‘immoral’ trademarks has been a subject of hot debate time and time again. To say that opinions on the matter are divided would be a great understatement. The US Supreme Court took a stance in its recent judgment on the protection of an ‘immoral’...

On the 4th of December, the Faculty of Law hosted a roundtable discussion on the upcoming EU Copyright Directive (2019/790) with viewpoints from students, the Commission, and Academics. The discussion focused on controversial  provisions of this contested legislation.

Macau, an island constituting one of the "Special Administrative Regions" of the People's Republic of China, has a unique patent system, which is notoriously advantageous for applicants. What is the benefit exactly and who benefits?

The European Environmental Agency (EEA) has recently published its latest ‘State of the Environment’ report (SOER 2020). Published every 5 years as part of the tasks of EEA’s mandate, the report contains a comprehensive assessment on the state of, trends in, and prospects for the protection of the...

Since the establishment of the WTO, the promise was made that the world would finally have an effective system of enforcement for trade and IP law. Peter van den Bossche discusses the American boycott of the Dispute Settlement System (DSS) under the WTO, in light of the TRIPS Agreement, at the IGIR...