Medecine and Intellectual Property Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Medecine and Intellectual Property - Essay Example It believes the recognition and understanding where both parties are coming is a vital first step to soften the impact of the conflict until a happy compromise is found. For large pharmaceutical companies investing billions of dollars to continually develop new medicines against diseases, it provides the necessary incentives in the form of patents to provide wider latitude in the development, promotion, and distribution of new drugs to recoup their investments and earn significant revenues for years of research and hard work. It also serves as an incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop new products for the prevention or treatment of common as well as dreaded diseases. But for low-income countries struggling to provide basic healthcare services and affordable drugs to their citizens, intellectual property is an onerous imposition that threatens to wreck lives in the wake of killer diseases, like pneumonia, HIV/AID, tuberculosis, hypertension, and measles that claim 37,000 men, women, and children everyday (WHO, 2005). The same report said more than one third of the world's population lacked regular access to essential drugs. Every year, millions of children and adults in developing countries around the world still die from common diseases that could be readily treated by drug therapies, and more economically cured with generic drugs. HEATED DEBATE The law on intellectual property rights allows pharmaceutical companies unrestricted rights to manufacture and distribute medicines at prices they command Without access to the drugs in the treatment of HIV, for example, to combat the spread of the dreaded disease, people from many countries in Africa experiencing an HIV/AIDS pandemic will die in record number. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized on December 1, 1981, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in recorded history. According to current estimates, HIV is set to infect 90 million people in Africa, providing an enormous market for an anti-HIV medicine. There is currently no vaccine or cure for HIV or AIDS. The only known method of prevention is avoiding exposure to the virus. However, an antiretroviral treatment, known as post-exposure prophylaxis is believed to reduce the risk of infection if begun directly after exposure. Current treatment for HIV infection consists of highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, an expensive procedure that many poor countries in Africa are forced to take. Non-African countries, like the Philippines, may not suffer as much as the Africans in terms of exposure to dreaded diseases, but they are also victims of expensively priced medicine. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, invoking its patent rights, recently filed an infringement lawsuit against the Philippines for its plan to import a generic and cheaper version of Norvasc in India. Norvasc is a maintenance medicine for people with heart condition. For

Land Law Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Land Law Coursework - Essay Example A property possessed by an individual via the legal provision of the government holds several legal clauses that bind the owner to the government policies. Knowledge of the law and the clauses it presents in property guide and ownership holds a major fraction in maintaining order after property acquisition. My essay is centered on two cases that depict instances that land laws require careful consideration before judgment is issued on rightful ownership. Part A Bramble farm The coming into force of the LRA (2002) signifies a change from a system of registration of title to a system where registration gives a person title to the land (Gatty, 2003). Previously, what were used were the 1925 reforms, which proved to be cumbersome and sometimes problematic. 1. Therefore, in the case of Rose, she was a previous co-owner to the land but her name was not included on the register as a co-proprietor, which in itself raises problems. Under the old system, a purchaser of land bound whether or no t he had notice of the existence of such interest1 but it depended on whether the interest was commercial or family in nature. Where it was commercial interest, the interest could not shift to the purchaser when it came to selling that land.2 In this case, Mr. Hay would not be bound by the understanding in two parties, as he was not privy to it. 2. When it comes to the matter of executable deed where Mr. Wood had a six-year lease, the law stipulates that where there is a legal lease even though not registered, it would bind Mr. Hay as an overriding interest within schedule 3 paragraph 1.3 Woods contract though not protected by the register would still be binding as an overriding interest within schedule 3 paragraph 2 (LRA, 2002), and that would be if woods was actually occupying the said cottage. However, since he never occupied it his interest in that land would cease to exist and the leasehold giving him the option to buy freehold of the cottage will not suffice. 3. In the case of right of easement or right of way, the law recognizes the right of a third party over somebody else’s land and it does not matter for whatever reason it maybe. This law applied to both lands when focusing on their registry. In this case, Mr. Plant and his predecessor have been using the outbuilding as a short cut. Common law stipulates that where a user is of right and is in continuous usage of that way then he acquires the right of way and it does not matter whether he had permission or not (Smith, 2000). 4. Fixtures and fittings that are on the land become part of the land in that the proprietor and subsequent buyer of the land own them. Chattels, themselves, remain moveable property that do not attain and so are not part of the integral heritable property. Therefore, where there is no express agreement in the contract of sale that the chattels will remain, they may be removed from the land without any right of recourse (Saton, 2000). In order to determine whether an item is a fixture, the initial assessment is whether it is physically attached to the land. This includes plumbing, shelving and heating but not items that are resting on the land, such as statutes.4 The second assessment is the purpose of attachment whether it is for the enjoyment of the item or for purposes of improving the land. In D'Eyncourt v Gregory it was established that ornaments and strategically placed seating, as well as two statutes of lions in a hall, did form part of