Time, scarcity, and abundance.

Scarcity abounds in law just as abundance is subject to law's limitations. This Article builds on legal theory, economics, and social psychology to present the dialectic of scarcity and abundance as they interplay in our relationship to information and time. This Article has made two overarching arguments: one about scarcity, abundance, and regulation generally and a second about time as an instrument of regulation subject to terms of scarcity and of abundance.

First-to-invent versus first-to-file: impact of the AIA.

On March 16, 2013, the USPTO switched from a 'first-to-invent' to a 'first-to-file' patent system. Under the 2011 America Invents Act, patents will be awarded to the first inventor to file a patent application as opposed to the date of invention. Now, over a year since the main provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA) came into effect, Pharmaceutical Patent Analyst has invited a selection of IP specialists and researchers from the US to discuss the implications of this new law and how it will affect future pharmaceutical and medical R&D.

FDA preemption of drug and device labeling: who should decide what goes on a drug label?

The Supreme Court decided an issue that is critical to consumer health and safety last year. In April 2009, the Supreme Court held that extensive FDA regulation of drugs did not preempt a state law claim that an additional warning on the label was necessary to make the drug reasonably safe for use. Thus, states--and even courts and juries--are now free to cast their vote on what a drug label should say.