Drug patent protection: How long is long enough? A recent Senate committee hearing on Bill S-17, Parliament's effort to comply with international trade rules by extending pharmaceutical patent protection to 20 years, inadvertently opened the door to a broader investigation of the inner workings of the country's pharmaceutical patent legislation.
The Virtual Currency Landscape. Virtual currencies such as Bitcoin are digital representations of value that function as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and/or a store of value. In many cases, virtual currencies are âconvertibleâ currencies; they are not legal tender, but they have an equivalent value in real currency. In terms of value, Bitcoin is the most prominent virtual currency. As of late January 2015, one bitcoin equaled roughly $207 (though the value is volatile), and all bitcoins in circulation totaled $2.85 billion.
Both virtual currencies and cryptocurrencies are types of digital currencies, but the converse is incorrect. Like traditional money these currencies may be used to buy physical goods and services but could also be restricted to certain communities such as for example for use inside an on-line game or social network.n contrast, Digital currencies can be used to facilitate payment for physical goods and services in real life, thus, inhabiting similar characteristics to traditional physical currencies in that respect. Furthermore, digital currencies can be used to facilitate payment in-person at physical business establishments.