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Over its 30 or so years of existence, the genomic commons—the worldwide collection of publicly accessible repositories of human and nonhuman genomic data—has enjoyed remarkable, perhaps unprecedented, success. Thanks to the rapid public data release policies initiated by the Human Genome Project, free access to a vast array of scientific data is now the norm, not only in genomics, but in scientific disciplines of all descriptions. And far from being a monolithic creation of bureaucratic fiat, the genomic commons is an exemplar of polycentric, multistakeholder governance. But like all dynamic and rapidly evolving systems, the genomic commons is not without its challenges. Issues involving scientific priority, intellectual property, individual privacy, and informed consent, in an environment of data sets of exponentially expanding size and complexity, must be addressed in the near term. In this review, we describe the characteristics and unique history of the genomic commons, then address some of the trends, challenges, and opportunities that we envision for this valuable public resource in the years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though India has the second-largest wireless subscriber base in the world, with more than 150 domestic mobile device vendors, it has, until recently, remained relatively unaffected by the global smartphone wars. Over the past few years, however, a growing number of patent enforcement actions have been brought by multinational firms against domestic Indian producers. These actions, which have largely resulted in judgments favoring foreign patent holders, have given rise to a variety of proposals for addressing this situation. In order to assess the potential impact of patents on the mobile device market in India, and to assist policy makers in formulating and implementing regulations affecting this market, we have conducted the first comprehensive academic study of the patent landscape of the mobile device sector in India. The results of this study illuminate a number of important features of the Indian mobile device market, including the overwhelming prevalence of foreign patent holders, the rate at which foreign and domestic firms are obtaining patents, and how these patent holdings are likely to shape industrial dynamics in the Indian market for mobile devices, as well as the availability of low-cost mobile devices that can significantly enhance public health, agriculture, safety, and economic development throughout India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the reasonable royalty damages in patent infringement cases in the U.S. Topics discussed include District of Georgia court case Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. U.S. Plywood, in which the court held that the reasonable royalty owed to a patent holder should be determined based on the consideration of fifteen different factors; Ericsson v. D-Link court case on patent infringement; and Fair Credit Billing Acts (FCBA's) 2016 model jury instructions.

The article focuses on the standards used in U.S. patent licensing and approval in 2014. Topics include efforts to prevent fraud in patent law, FRAND licensing, which stands for 'fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory,' and the authority of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO). Information is provided on standards-development organizations (SDOs).

The article advocates reallocation of rights in between publishers and scientific authors to abate the risk of scientific publishing crisis and social welfare loses on a publishing market. It argues that the U.S. National Institute of Health open access policies portray several loopholes. It suggests that allocation of specific time period after which scientific literature is released in public and adoption of license agreement to alleviate a publisher's copyright may ameliorate the norms.