New US laws limit attempts to patent nature’s inventions
I recently wrote how the Supreme Court of the United States had ruled that isolated DNA was not a patentable invention. The Court ruled that a naturally occurring DNA segment...
Read More >>I recently wrote how the Supreme Court of the United States had ruled that isolated DNA was not a patentable invention. The Court ruled that a naturally occurring DNA segment...
Read More >>“Hey, aren’t you somebody?” the teenager queried as I got into the elevator. While I was pondering an appropriate answer to this deeply philosophical question, his crony spilled the beans,...
Read More >>Back in the 1950s, Dow Chemical promoted its glycols by highlighting the humectant and softening effect in cigarettes. Although cigarette advertising is anathema in society today, glycols and the role...
Read More >>In a previous column, I discussed how patents can be monetized either by wholly assigning the rights in the patent or, alternatively, by licensing a portion of the rights. There...
Read More >>The great Renaissance painter, Sandro Botticelli, painted his masterpiece the Allegory of Spring amidst the backdrop of an era of profound change. He challenged conventional thought and was one of...
Read More >>Canadian Titanium Pigments Ltd. was founded in 1936 by parent company NL Industries, one of America’s most venerable businesses. The National Lead Company, as it was first known, was established...
Read More >>Just before turning 30, after working for two chemical manufacturing companies, I was headhunted and offered a tremendous job opportunity with a large salary increase and company car. I did...
Read More >>In 1990, the University of Waterloo’s Janusz Pawliszyn developed a new method of collecting and analyzing water samples, a common practice that had scarcely changed since the 1980s. Pawliszyn’s method, called solid phase microextraction (SPME), allows some contaminants to be extracted on-site without the use of organic solvents while making sampling faster, cheaper and more environmentally friendly. It was inevitable that industry would take note. Indeed, when one of Pawliszyn’s former students went to work for Maxxam Analytics in Toronto, she took the idea with her and a great partnership began.
Read More >>This July, about 500 scientists from around the globe will gather in Toronto to share and celebrate advances in the pedagogy and practice of chemistry education. The 23 rd International...
Read More >>In my previous column, I discussed how intellectual property, like any other form of property, can be assigned, licensed, bequeathed, etc. When a patent application is filed, the inventors listed...
Read More >>The ancient Romans, of course, didn’t have washing machines. But they had the next best thing. They had fullonicae, laundries where servants called fullones washed clothes. Don’t picture some sort...
Read More >>On going concerns about Syria’s use of chemical weapons against its own civilians and Canada’s role in detecting and destroying the vast arsenal have renewed public interest...
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