The new intellectual property of health

Dr Enrico Bonadio, a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law, has co-authored The New Intellectual Property of Health: Beyond Plain Packaging, with Professor Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and Risk Regulation.

The new book provides the first legal and policy analysis of the intellectual property (IP) aspects of a fast-growing category of regulatory measures affecting the presentation and advertising of health-related goods. The authors and several contributors explore the IP aspects of the presentation and advertising of tobacco, food, alcohol and pharmaceuticals. Dr Bonadio hopes that the book will act as a catalyst for discussion among scholars, NGOs and legal practitioners interested in this area of law:

Inherent tension

"We thought it was important to unearth and analyse the inherent tension emerging between these new measures as well as other categories of public health measures and IP regimes; and to provide a platform where both experienced and young scholars and lawyers could debate on how to balance the legitimate interests of governments to promote human health and the protection and enforcement of IP rights.

"Likewise, we strongly believed that it was important to further explore how to amend IP regimes with a view to encouraging companies to produce and market healthier products."

There are chapters focussing on country-specific examples (in Australia and Uruguay in terms of tobacco packaging) of the inherent tension between IP regimes and measures and public health measures.

The book discusses how to balance the legitimate interests of governments to promote human health and the protection of and enforcement of IP rights and looks at amending IP regimes with a view to encouraging companies to produce and market healthier products.