فهرست مطالب mehdi zahedi

In contemporary intellectual property law, literary and artistic property rights extend beyond mere movies or literary works to encompass the fictional characters integral to these creative endeavors. This legal support not only serves to inspire creators but also to safeguard their imaginative achievements. Among these creations, fictional characters hold a profound influence over our daily lives and entertainment pursuits, spanning various media such as movies, books, and computer programs. Iconic figures like Sherlock Holmes, Batman, and Superman exemplify the significant fictional characters that have received such protection. Given the vast diversity of fictional characters, it becomes imperative to secure the rights of their creators, thereby fostering the necessary motivation for their ongoing creativity. Consequently, the principal objective of this article is to delve into the mechanisms by which fictional characters are safeguarded within the framework of literary and artistic property rights. Specifically, the article seeks to address whether it is feasible to independently protect these characters within this legal structure.To achieve this goal, a descriptive-analytical methodology is employed, drawing upon court jurisprudence, particularly in the United States, to elucidate the legal underpinnings and delineate the elements, possibilities, and criteria for protecting fictional characters. Central to this examination are discussions on the concept of fictional characters, methodologies for protection, criteria for identifying infringements, proprietary rights, and protected elements. Moreover, it is important to note that data collection for this article follows a documentary and library-based approach. Utilizing the library method, a cornerstone of scientific research, ensures a comprehensive exploration of existing literature and resources. Through this methodological framework, data is systematically gathered and analyzed using a descriptive-analytical lens. The article concludes that fictional characters can indeed be independently supported, distinct from the larger artistic work. These characters are defined as "abstractions eliciting a response in the mind of the reader or viewer through written or spoken words." Consequently, certain guiding principles must be observed in supporting fictional characters, notably the principle of " idea-expression dichotomy." In the realm of works in in Literary and Artistic Property Law System, protection extends to the tangible expression of the work, rather than the underlying ideas. The work is defined as "the expression of creative and original literary and artistic thoughts of the creator that has been established in the outside world." Additionally, authenticity and fixation conditions are pivotal for support, ensuring the character's origin from the creator and its objective manifestation. Further examination focuses on tests designed to assess potential violations of fictional character rights, such as the " Distinct Delineation Test," the " Story being told test,” And the "three-part test." These tests evaluate elements such as physical appearance, identity, evolution, and narrative significance. Ultimately, an analysis of relevant cases demonstrates that courts recognize the possibility of independently protecting fictional characters, provided they exhibit originality and developed expression. The application of such tests within judicial procedures serves to bolster creator motivation, stimulate creative endeavors, and attract investment in cultural and artistic domains, alongside other cultural and social pursuits.

The legal status of intellectual things has three different time periods from the time of creation to the beginning of the period of protection and after that. The status of intellectual things in terms of property from the time of creation until they fall under the protective umbrella of intellectual property rights and after the expiration of the protection period, as well as what economic rights have intellectual things outside the scope of intellectual property rights, is the subject of this article.  To answer this question, with a descriptive-analytical method and based on library studies, the legal status of intellectual things was investigated in two periods before and after the protection and the effect of real and contractual monopoly on mentioned things and concluded that things As long as they are under the customary dominion of the creator, are considered property and belong to the creator, and after the period of protection, they are not in the public ownership of the society of a country but are considered a part of the common heritage of humanity, that is not limited to the territorial borders of countries, and no private,  governmental, or public persons have the right to own and create a monopoly whether real, legal, or contractual over it.

The development of international transactions and the commercial exploitation of intellectual property has increased the necessity of creating dispute resolution methods in the field of intellectual property in accordance with international requirements. The parties to the dispute are looking for efficient, flexible, and low-cost dispute resolution mechanisms that will not disrupt their business relations. This is despite the fact that intellectual property disputes often lead to long and expensive lawsuits due to the territorial nature, diversity of rights, and technical complexities that result from the integration of different fields such as artificial intelligence with other fields, which is not favorable for the courts and litigants. Therefore, intellectual property rights holders have turned to methods that are more under the control and management of the disputing parties to resolve disputes. The special features of intellectual property rights and its lawsuits, such as territoriality, the specialization of intellectual property issues, conflicts in the jurisdiction of courts, widespread violations in different jurisdictions, the importance of confidentiality, the length of the process, andthe huge costs of international proceedings. The lack of an international convention on the enforcement of intellectual property judgments is one of the most important reasons that has affected the efficiency of judicial proceedings in these cases. Non-judicial dispute resolution methods, which mainly have fewer formalities and costs and are faster, reduce many of these problems. Among the non-judicial methods, mediation has the advantage of considering the characteristics of intellectual property, and compared to other methods, it is more successful in resolving these disputes. The interdisciplinary nature of most intellectual property claims and the need for various expertise to resolve disputes and the possibility of examining complex intellectual property cases, especially patent claims, by technical experts in the shortest time compared to other methods and often at a much lower cost, territorial nature of intellectual property rights and solving the problem of conflict in the jurisdiction of national and international courts and reducing the risk of issuing conflicting opinions, reducing the damage of the owner of the intellectual work due to the urgency and speed of mediation in resolving the dispute, focusing on the mutual interests of the parties and resolving the dispute amicably and, as a result, maintaining the commercial relations of the parties in long-term contracts that sometimes cover the entire period of protection of intellectual property, the suitability of the rapid development of technology, and the rapid diffusion of intellectual properties due to their intangible nature with the speed of dispute resolution in mediation compared to the slowness of judicial proceedings, extraordinary flexibility in the dispute resolution process and the possibility of adopting creative solutions such as concluding a license agreement, technology transfer, integration, cooperation in research and development, and agreement on the division of patent within a specific territorial area instead of being limited to the specific  Judicial decisions such as revocation, financial damage,   and etc. are the advantages of this method in solving intellectual property disputes compared to other alternative methods.Also, privacy and confidentiality and maintaining the technical and commercial secrets of the parties, avoiding the reinterpretation of the claim in court and the risk of narrowing the claims, reducing the risk of patent invalidation, avoiding the research process, and obtaining the opinions of multiple experts due to the complexities of intellectual property claims, especially patent lawsuits and its costs, complete control of the parties on the determination of proceedings and the absence of legal dates and deadlines, being held in a single stage and with quick results, lack of legal obligation of the parties to accept the mediator's recommendations and suggestions, and the optionality of the procedure that leads to the parties not resorting to useless tricks or objections to slow down or create obstacles in the mediation process. Another reason is the effectiveness of mediation in resolvingintellectual property disputes. A field research has been prepared to answer the question of what functions the mediation institution has to resolve intellectual property disputes and it comes to the conclusion that mediation is effective in all aspects of the conflict, including judicial and non-judicial elements such as commercial interests, feelings, and other conditions of companions. Considering the dispute and empowering the parties, it allows them to find the right solution based on their special interests and needs. Therefore, it can be said that although dispute resolution through mediation is not considered the only appropriate method for resolving intellectual property disputes, it has desirable functions and is efficient in most of these disputes.

In the property of the physical assets, the legal interests that individuals can have in relation to assets, as well as its methods of conveyance are in limited numbers and specified molds. The issue, referred to as the principle of the Numerus Clausus, has been accepted in both civil law and common law systems. In our country, without mentioned principal under this title, its nature has been accepted. In recent decades, propertization is one of the impressive developments in the field of intellectual property rights and the question is whether, in this area, such as the property of physical assets, the principle of Numerus Clausus is applied or not? Therefore, in this research, while explaining the principle of Numerus Clausus and its justification, the necessity and method of its application in the field of intellectual property rights were investigated by descriptive-analytical method based on library studies and determined that the principle is not uniformly applied in the field of intellectual property rights and the standardization of intellectual property rights interests will be useful to the extent that there is a balance between the costs of restricting intellectual property owners in creating new property interests and the benefits of applying the Numerus Clausus.

Legal systems have taken different approaches to Copyright infringement but the ultimate purpose of them is to prevent the intentional and unjust appropriation of the rights of the creators. The proof of copyright infringement is easy when some rights such as reproduction is infringed or literal appropriation has taken place. However, it would be difficult to prove infringement when the plaintiff claims that defendant appropriated a material amount of his original work with some differences. The main question is how much similarities are too much? there is no definitive standard in the law, but courts believe that infringement occurs when the defendant’s work bears a substantial similarity to plaintiff's work and to achieve that they have introduced various tests. This article seeks to explain the concept of substantial similarity in Copyright infringement and the way to achieve it. The result of the research is the choice of one or more tests from the four available tests depending on the type and nature of the work. However, in all choices, it is necessary to separate protected from unprotected elements and dichotomy between idea and expression in the work. This article also show that qualitative similarities are more important than quantitative similarities.

Freedom of expression includes the freedom to express, access and dissemination of information, whereas copyright, by protecting the original works of authorship, restricts use, access and dissemination of the protected works. When an expression is protected by copyright, freedom of expression or press can be restricted. Some are of the opinion that these two rights are, in fact, not in conflict with each other but rather derived from the same social values seeking to protect each right. Common goals such as flow of cultural ideas or promoting creativity in the society causes interaction and synergy between the two. Idea-expression dichotomy by determining the scope of the copyright and distinguishing what belongs to the public domain, which is not a protected, will ensure a constructive interaction between the two and protects the public interest and dose not restrict freedom of expression. This article will discuss how to strike a balance between the public interest in freedom of expression and the private interests of the copyright owners without undermining the other. Idea-expression dichotomy as a counterbalance between these two rights is the cornerstone of this article.

Originality is an essential requirement for the copyrightability of any artistic and literary work. Creative works are afforded copyright protection only if they are original. Originality has yet to be defined by international or national laws including Iranian Laws. The judicial interpretation of national laws also differ from one another and there is no consensus on the concept of Originality. Under traditional approach, Originality is often referred as to "labor and effort" or "self expression " of the author, whereas the more approach is that of "creativity " and exercise of "skill and judgment ". However, all legal systems recognize that the work must be independent and not copied from another work.The main question of this Article is which approach can strike a balance between author’s rights and public interest to cheap and easy access to artistic works. This article will examine originality under different jurisdictions and concludes the Canadian definition is the more appropriate approach to the said question. Finally, it suggests that the Iranian legislature shall replace the term “creativity” with “skill and judgment” in 14 of article 1 of the copyright bill.

The study of patentability of human stem cells requires that in the first stage, innovations in this field be considered as patentable issues, and then it may be possible to study the three patent requirements. Paying attention to the general expression of patent laws in all legal systems, patents in this field are considered as registrable issues. Applying the three patent requirements to patents in this field also faces challenges that in both US and European legal systems have tried to address these challenges by providing indicators of each of the three patent requirements useful to realize existence of each requirements in a given case.

This research is of theoretical type and the research method is comparative and descriptive-analytical and the method of data collection is library and has been done by referring to documents, books and articles.

Iran's patent system does not have sufficient examination guidelines to examine inventions in this field and examiners do not have sufficient skills. On the other hand, US and European patent systems in the last two decades have faced the challenge of applying patent requirements to innovations in this field and have found appropriate solutions to solve their problems which could be a shortcut for Iran patent system. Ethical considerations: All ethical considerations including the authenticity of the texts, honesty and fidelity have been observed in order to organize this research.

Due to the shortcomings of the Iranian patent system, especially the lack of examination guidelines and the lack of specialized patent examiners in Iran, the selection of more stringent criteria for patent examination of the patent system faces serious challenges. In general, it is appropriate that the criteria considered in some other legal systems mentioned in the patent requirements to avoid ambiguities and similar lawsuits raised in these legal systems be specified in the patent law or relevant regulations. The US legal system is more rigorous in applying these requirements. Due to the characteristics of the Iranian patent system, choosing the easier approach can make the examination work less expensive and more commensurate. For example, it is appropriate to specify that human stem cells, given that they are natural elements, must be isolated from their natural environment and accompanied by a minimum of technical intervention to be considered new. It is also appropriate to consider the need for "unexpected technical effect" and "sense of continuous demand" in order to finding innovative step. To apply the requirements of industrial application three indicators of being specific, tangible and significant are suggested.

With  the growth of transactional commercial arbitrations in the 20th century, the theory of ‘Transactional Commercial Law’ was proposed by jurists such as Goldman and Schmitthoff, according to which, there is a third legal system along with the system of international law and national law which adjusts transnational commercial relations. There is no consensus among legal scholars about the concept, nature and other issues surrounding transnational commercial law and its study invites ambiguities. Considering the history of transnational commercial rules, some scholars consider this new legal system equivalent to traditional and customary trade law of medieval merchants (Lex Mercatoria), whereas Lex Mercatoria has never had a fixed concept and its meaning has developed over time. Based on a library study and a descriptive-analytical approach, this article studies and assesses the evolutionary process of Lex Mercatoria and clarifies its interrelationships with Transnational Commercial Law. Finally, it is concluded that the comprehensive definition for Lex Mercatoria is not equivalent of Transnational Commercial Law (including in its broad or restrictive sense) without specifying certain characteristic such as classical, modern, and post-modern in which the post-modern Lex Mercatoria comes closer to the concept of Transnational Commercial Law in its restrictive sense.

Due to the need for legal action to protect traditional knowledge and medicine, efforts to prevent unauthorized use and to consolidate the possession of the owner countries on this knowledge have been made in the international arena. One of the key and most challenging proposed mechanisms for protection of traditional knowledge and medicine is disclosure requirements through the sui generis system of traditional knowledge protection. According to this proposal which targets misappropriation of traditional medicine through patent applications involving the utilization of traditional knowledge, patent applicants would be required to disclose the country providing such resources, and to provide relevant information regarding compliance with prior informed consent and access and fair and equitable benefit.
The question that this Article tries to examine is to what extent the disclosure requirement could provide effective protection for traditional medicine and prevent biopiracy? Also, as it is proposed that these requirement to be incorporated in TRIPS Agreement within World Trade Organization and draft articles for protection of traditional knowledge in World Intellectual Property Organization, this Article will analyses the process and challenges of both proposals.

A “compilation” is a work formed by the collection and assembling of pre-existing materials or of data that are selected, coordinated or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship, such as periodical issue, anthology, encyclopedia, telephone directory, etc. Since the prerequisite for protection of copyright works is originality, this question arises whether these works are original and may also be copyrightable. The meaning of originality is not defined in the majority of national copyright legislations. Instead, the interpretation of what is to be original has been left mainly to the courts. Courts have different opinions regarding the definition of originality and its conditions. However, the Supreme Court of United States in the Feist case put an end to this division.
This article attempts to study the notion of originality of compilations works by analyzing the Feist case in order to answer whether compilation works have any originality and if the answer is yes, what is its scope.

Doping is the most important issues in national and international sports events which are contrary to the values of Olympic Movement and spirit of sport. IOC activities in fighting against doping led to establish World AntiDoping Agency (2003) and all national and international sport organizations obliged to follow the WADA code (2005). EUNESCO convention was signed by 139 countries and become enforceable. Nevertheless, more doping cases arose .Specially the Russian doping scandal before Rio Olympic Game (2016). IOC decided to establish new CAS Division (Anti-Doping Division). CAS-ADD started working in Rio Olympic Games. CAS-ADD works under Swiss Law and accept doping-related matters, appoint a panel (independent and qualified), rule on WADA code and general principles of law (due process and procedure law), decision making within 24 hours-if necessary after the game, jurisdiction over subsequent retesting of samples during games. CAS demonstrated independence and capability in Rio games.

Sport is an international issue. Today, development of information technologies and importance of economic aspect of sport has caused to develop sport related disputes. To resolve these conflicts, sport governors established a fair and expert judgment system called, Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Gradually due to many conflicts arose in this area since 1996 during The Atlanta Olympic Games, a new division called Ad Hoc Division started to work. This division of CAS resolves disputes during Olympic Games and International sport events. The study is to review the role of AHD in resolving sport related disputes in Olympic Games and CAS as a role model for international law in resolving conflicts and developing Lex Sportiva, with special attention to Rio -2016 Olympic Games and new division called Anti– Doping Division which started to work for the first time in this international event.

Among the existing agreements to protect intellectual property rights, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has set the highest level of enforcement standards. This study tries to clarify and identify differences between the ACTA provisions and innovations with other international regulations and its effects on the universal access to medicines in developing countries.
In this qualitative research, document analysis method was applied. By using this method and analyzing the characteristics of the ACTA regulations, we will discussed its effects on the universal access to the medicines and public health.
Findings: ACTA negotiators have created an agreement that shifts international "hard law" rules and "soft law" encouragements toward making enforcement of intellectual property rights in courts and borders, less costly, and more "deterrent" in the level of penalties through omission of the felexibility of TRIPS Agreement, and required transprancy and participation. So that, it increases the risks and consequences of wrongful searches, seizures, lawsuits and other enforcement actions for those relying on intellectual property limitations and exceptions to access markets. This is likely to make affordable medicines more expencive and rare in many developing countries and threaten the public health.
The ACTA must be interperated and performed so that the right of committed countries to health and access to medicines be protected; when access to some medicines requires to breach the intellectual property rights, intrernational inhibition and access to them should be prevented through a common accepted approach.

Since the movies have played a huge role beyond entertainment to improve cultural development and guiding public opinion, the government oversight on cinematic production in variety of ways. In Iran’s legal system, the government monitors cinematic production from scriptwriting, to the introduction of home video, such supervision is from the beginning to the end and at all stages of production and distribution .
The government’s purpose of such supervision is to maintain social norms, national security and promotion of public culture. However, the cinema activists consider such a regulation to be contrary to freedom of expression, freedom of art and artist and economics interest of the cinema industry. This article seeks to analyze the rules of supervision of cinematic production in terms of cinematographers. This paper conclude that current regulations are ineffective and, in many cases, interrupted by personal test in such a way as to disrupt investment security.

The development of technologies associated to mobile, and, also increase of customers’ demands to take advantage from the foresaid technologies have led to new technologies on mobile. One of the most considerable technologies is to transfer the mobile operator, without any number portability. This issue is known significant; because there are some customers who cannot exchange their SIM card, although they may not be satisfied with their operator. Since achieving more economic profits and, growth of competition in telecommunication markets are known as goals of said prerogative, the economic aspects have influenced, so notably, on regulation and legal requirements of the technology. Hence, regarding the significance of the legal aspects of the event, to which it’s been referred, in this study, the legal aspects of technology are being analyzed. Both legal frameworks identified mandatory by the regulatory authority and considering regulation methods on the technology are analyzed in this article. Moreover, since this issue is a recent phenomenon in Iran, the legal aspects of the technology in Iran have been studied.

Biochemical composition of seafood is important in order to present some nutrition recommendations. In this study, the fatty acid composition of barracuda was investigated. Pickhandle barracuda (Sphyraena jello) and Yellowtail barracuda (Sphyraena flavicauda) were caught in autumn and spring from the Oman Sea during 2015 Total saturated fatty acids (SFAs) in both species were higher in spring (P<0.05) than in autumn. The most monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) were found in autumn (P<0.05). Sum of EPA + DHA was the least in spring, while highest in autumn. The omega 6 content in the Pickhandle barracuda in autumn did not show any significant difference in comparison with that of Yellowtail barracuda in spring (P>0.05). The most omega 3 fatty acid in both species was observed in specimens caught in autumn and had a significant difference with that of the spring (P<0.05). The maximum n-3/n-6 ratio was found in Pickhandle barracuda in spring (9.33 ± 0.53). Thrombogenecity index in Pickhandle barracuda in spring was the highest (0.62 ± 0.24) (P<0.05). Barracuda spawning starts from spring through summer, so, significant differences in the biochemical content may be due to the sexual requirements and also the nutrition conditions as well as the availability of food items. In conclusion, both barracudas are valuable in the human health nutrition especially in adults.

This article discusses the globalization of the economy in whichthere are various theories and one of the requirements for discussing the globalization of the economy and its effect and factors is that we first recognize and understand the phenomenon of globalization; because the phenomenon of globalization has various causes and effects, one of its effects is on the economy and among other kinds of it, we have globalization of culture or globalization of politics, and so on, but in this article, we first discuss the phenomenon of globalization and then the globalization of the economy and its causes and effects. In this paper, we will answer the question of whether globalization of the economy can causes the economic context growth? Globalization is one of the issues that its background, although not much in the past, has many effects and results and economists and scholars have made a lot of comments about it. In this paper, we have tried to explain the most important comments. And in the end of the discussion, we will conclude whether the effects of this discussion will create economic prosperity or not, with the study of its positive and negative causes and consequences?

The "Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures" is one of the main agreement under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which is called SPS. This agreement includes the rules on application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures. The purpose of the first measure is protection of human health and life of animal. The aim of the second is on the protection of the health of the plant. Nevertheless, the ultimate goal is to protect human health and environment. Well-known examples of the measures can be noted as nutrition standards, licensing procedures transportation rules, and quarantine.
Contracting States of the SPS can legitimately take the sanitary and phytosanitary measures to prevent the importation of hazardous materials, which are considered as a threat to health and life of their citizens, into their territory.
Since the purpose of the WTO is to liberalize trade, the imposition of any trade restriction shall be in accordance with related terms and requirements which ignoring them may lead to the responsibility of the State. SPS and its supplements regulate the terms and conditions of resorting to these measures under the main obligation of the contracting States. These terms and conditions are necessity, scientific justification and risk assessment. These requirements are decisive criteria for finding the legitimacy of contracting State’s action.
This article will examine and analyze these three requirements along with the related case law from the perspective of health protection.

Undoubtedly, one of the most significant changes in the patent system is the recent EU Member States’ agreement on signing and approving the regulations concerning new unitary patent system. On the basis of this agreement, after the grant of patents by European Patent Office, there would be no need for patentees to validate their patents for which unitary effect has been requested in the territory of participating EU Member States. This agreement also includes the creation of Unified Patent Court with exclusive jurisdiction over unitary patents and European patents throughout member States. Due to the importance of this agreement, the identification and clarification of its legal and economic impacts on the policies of the industries and companies in regard to research, innovations and commercialization of patented inventions is deemed to be imperative. This Article tries to study the details of this agreement and analyses legal consequences of the establishment of the new patent system in Europe.

Congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a cardiac disorder characterized by QT interval prolongation at basal ECG. Different LQTS genes encode ion channel subunits or proteins involved in regulating cardiac ionic currents. Long QT syndrome type 6 (LQT6) is caused by mutation in the KCNE2 gene. Our research aimed to analyze genetic variants of KCNE2 gene causing the disease in Iranian population.
Twenty nine patients consented for participation in the study. They were diagnosed based on Schwartz's criteria. After DNA extraction from peripheral blood cells, two exons of the KCNE2 gene were amplified. Afterwards, PCR-SSCP was carried out for screening the possible mutated gene variants. As the last verification step, direct sequencing was done to determine the sequence.
All samples were detected by PCR-SSCP and sequenced. None of the patients had the mutation in the KCNE2 gene.
Investigating a genetic variant associated with LQTS, in Iranian patients clinically diagnosed with LQT6, no association was found between the disease and KCNE2 gene. Other previously identified genes, especially the major genes, should be considered for further investigation.

International conventions and provisions in the context of literary and artistic works law can legislate direct and indirect criteria for protection.These criteria that have been founded in the traditional definitions and categorizations of art,can not contemplate a vast area of the contemporary arts.What we know as contemporary art today has a set of unique features that do not follow the traditional artistic framework and rules.The contradicting features of this form of art lead it to a form of pluralism.some artwork like events are self-demolishing or contain a deteriorating element.The necessity of originality,idea/expression dichotomy and fixation of literal and artistic work in materialistic mediums are challenged in many forms of contemporary art,and in some cases,the art piece never finds a materialistic form.Due to the extent of the concept of art in the modern world.This article tries to investigate how international laws could protect artwork and find out how much current literal and artistic laws can support them.

Tourism is the third largest generator of jobs and investment industry after oil and automotive industries. Tourism industry is among new domains which is being supported through the body of intellectual property rights in terms of literary and artistic property as well as industrial property. Nowadays, various issues relating to intellectual property in the tourism industry can develop this sector and attract more tourists. Therefore, considering these issues as traditional cultural expression (folklore), architecture works, geographical indications and trademarks has been very common and popular. Like other industries, tourism has related goods and services. It also has a lot of major and various factors influencing this industry. These factors might be based on attractiveness and competitiveness. (Such as brands tourist destinations). This paper attempts to answer these questions: What is the role of intellectual property rights in protection and competitiveness of the tourism industry? Can this legal regime provide opportunities and adequate protection measures to increase productivity and fair competition for stakeholders in the industry? To answer these questions, this article analyses the capacities of the existing intellectual property system in the framework of folklore, architecture works, geographical indication, and collective marks in order to protecting artistic and cultural tourism, agricultural (rural) tourism and health tourism as well as development of tourism destination brand.

Industrial development and application of wide range of modern technologies are one of the influential factors in the increase of investment, economic growth and promotion of social welfare. However, according to conducted research and existing empirical evidence, those factors have brought about negative environmental impacts such as climate change and global warming. Here, patent system as a main legal framework to encourage and protect innovations, inventions and industrial progress has an undeniable role in the extent of such negative environmental impacts. Biological pollution is mainly the result of industrial activities and application of technologies that were or are protected under patent laws. Since the Convention on Biological Diversity emphasizes on the necessity of the preservation of environment and sustainable development, this Article tries to identify and clarify the legal gaps in patent laws by studying the patent protection theories and rationales, and further through the analysis of such laws and international cases put forward a number of solutions to the environmental challenges by offering some suggestions regarding the amendment of patent system.

One of the controversial subjects in the context of intellectual property discourse is the use of patented inventions in research and experiment. Since the underlying knowledge and technology of an invention is a valuable source for furthering research and discoveries, many commentators hold the view that the scope of experimental use exception should be widened. Conducting a comparative study on a number of laws in four countries, this Article posits that such expansion and limiting the patent holders’ rights could upset the balancestruck between the costs of inventing and patenting on the one hand, and exclusive rights, on the other hand. This would subsequently undermine the rationale of the patent system which is to encourage innovation. Thus, exceptions should be kept minimum and legal mechanisms which entail inventors’ authorization should be upheld.