Patent holders are increasingly making voluntary, public commitments to limit the enforcement and other exploitation of their patents. The best-known form of patent pledge is the so-called FRAND commitment, in which a patent holder commits to license patents to manufacturers of standardized products on terms that are 'fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory.' Patent pledges have also been appearing in fields well beyond technical standard-setting, including open source software, green technology and the biosciences. This book explores the motivations, legal characteristics and policy goals of...

This book covers a broad range of legal topics relating to the fields of bioinformatics and medical informatics, which relate to the intersection of biomedical information and computer programming within the contexts of scientific research, product development and healthcare delivery. A number of usually distinct bodies of legal doctrine come together in this area, sometimes overlapping, sometimes colliding in unexpected ways. Key issues discussed in the book include: An overview of the current landscape of bioinformatics and medical informatics A focus on the legal...