On Monday, the international law firm Marks & Clerk released it’s 2013 Life Sciences Report at the BIO International Convention in Chicago. This 50-plus page report is wide-ranging, containing both the views of life science leaders on marketplace issues like funding for new ventures (not favorable) and other trends in the pharma/biotech industry (more mergers and joint ventures). Although these opinion survey results are of some interest, particularly the focus on the AIA, SPCs and biosimilars, the “meat” of the report is Marks & Clerk’s attempt to summarize major IP trends in both the US (not good for diagnostics), the EP (not good for stem cells), Australia (scope of prior art broadened), India (compulsory licenses and attempts to clarify biotech patent standards) and even Thailand and Hong Kong. I think that all of us working in the life sciences space should give this report at least a quick look – It is an ambitious and largely successful attempt to summarize “the year in IP law and business worldwide.”
