The idea for these remarks was triggered by the ongoing litigation between DuPont and Monsanto involving biotech traits in agriculture, specifically for corn and soybean seeds.1 I am not involved in this litigation and am only peripherally familiar with the issues based on public information, especially DuPont’s counterclaims.2 I will ignore various issues in the litigation, like the validity o...

Traditionally, Congress and commentators view administrative law as having little to do with patent litigation. There has been a recent increase, however, in various types of patent litigation that involve regulatory determinations, such as Hatch-Waxman Act patent litigation, section 337 proceedings in the ITC, standard essential organization (SEO) licensing lawsuits, and “biosimilar” cases. An...

BACKGROUND In a 1994 Ninth Circuit decision on the remand of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Judge Alex Kosinski wrote that science done for the purpose of litigation should be subject to more stringent standards of admissibility than other science. OBJECTIVES We analyze this proposition by considering litigation-generated science as a subset of science involving conflict of int...

Canadians place importance on the provision of universal health care and value their current scheme for the fact that distribution of services is based upon need rather than fault or income. However, to provide this level of service provincial and federal governments, of all political stripes, face a delicate balance of three constraints; cost of health care, cost of other income maintenance sc...

In response to publicized shootings of minority civilians, several police agencies across the county have announced that they will hire more minority police officers. However, there is a dearth of quantitative research examining real-life consequences of police diversity. Between 1969 and 2000, a number of police departments were sued for racial and gender discrimination, and many responded by ...

OBJECTIVES Neurological practice has previously been highlighted as a high-risk speciality with regard to malpractice claims. We set out to study the nature of these claims in order to inform physicians about hazardous areas within their speciality and potentially alter clinical practice. DESIGN Nationwide retrospective analysis of successful neurology and neurosurgery claims over a 17-year p...

BACKGROUND When initiating treatment for patients with spinal disorders, we examined the impact of smoking, workers compensation, and litigation on disability and pain scores. METHODS With Institutional Review Board approval, the medical records of 13,704 consecutive patients with spinal disorders treated at two university spine centers were reviewed. Particular attention was focused on the p...

The expectation of obstetrics is a perfect outcome. Obstetrics malpractice can cause morbidity and mortality that may engender litigation. Globally, increasing trend to litigation in obstetrics practice has resulted in high indemnity cost to the obstetrician with consequent frustration and overall danger to the future of obstetrics practice. The objective was to review litigations and the Obste...