Workshop in Law and Economics of Intellectual Property

"The value of standard essential patents - The battle to define the meaning of FRAND" by Bo Heiden, Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property, of the University of Gothenburg (Sweden).

"Economics and the future of collecting societies" by Ruth Towse, Bournemouth University, Co-Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management.

Click here for further information.

“Inventing around Copyright” by Prof. Dan L. Burk, UC Irvine's Chancellor's Professor in Law.

Xavier Seuba, Visiting Senior Research Associate at CEIPI and Senior Lecturer in Public International Law, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain presented his research on the “Economics of IP Enforcement”, which constitute part of his forthcoming publication. Please consult the presentation summary, as well as the slides used during the seminar for a more in-depth look at Xavier Seuba’s work.

Julien Pénin, Professor of Economics at the University of Strasbourg and Agnieszka Kupzok, postdoctoral researcher and project leader in the Law and Economics of IP presented on the topic of the law and economics of the unitary patent package. 

The seminar was based on the collaboration of the two researchers, which resulted in a co-authored contribution to the Observatoire des Politiques Economiques Européennes (OPEE – European Observatory of Political Economy). It also served as a forum for exchanging ideas about the patent reform in the European Union.  You can find the co-authored article on the topic published at the OPEE, here: http://opee.unistra.fr/IMG/pdf/bulletin_opee_no_29-2.pdf  (p.29).

Within the broad theme of copyright in the digital age, participants focused on addressing the issue of exhaustion of digital content.  The CJEU decision in UsedSoft GmbH v Oracle International Corp., C-128/11, served as a starting point.  The economic considerations addressed aspects such as parallel trade and ability of right holders to engage in price discrimination. 

On December 3rd, Valentine Millot, who finalized her PhD under the supervision of Professor Patrick Llerena at the economics faculty, gave a presentation entitled: "Are trademarks and patents complementary or substitute protections for innovation?"

Valentine Millot is a statistician at the Economic Analysis and Statistics Division of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, working on different projects relating to innovation measurement and analysis. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Strasbourg. Her PhD thesis focused on the link between trademark strategies and innovative behaviour of firms. Prior to that she studied Economics and Statistics at the Paris School of Economics and at ENSAE.”

"Are trademarks and patents complementary or substitute protections for innovation?" Paper co-authored with Patrick Llerena

CEIPI-BETA Project in Law and Economics of IP had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Nathan Wajsman, Chief Economist at OHIM, who spoke on November 25th within the Invited Speaker Series.

 Dr. Wajsman gave a lecture entitled “Intellectual Property Rights intensive industries: contribution to economic performance and employment in Europe” in which he presented the results of a very recent study carried out jointly by the OHIM and the EPO on this topic.

In the November workshop we addressed the various justifications for the IP system, only some of which focus on the economic arguments. The following two papers served as basis for discussion:

1) Merges, Robert, General Theories of Intellectual Property in: Bouckaert, Boudewijn and De Geest, Gerrit (eds.) (2000), The Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, Edward Elgar.

  and

2) Fisher, William W., Theories of Intellectual Property, unpublished, available online.

On October 22^nd, a new project initiative set up between CEIPI and BETA involving lab experiments was presented. The presentation held jointly by junior researchers highlighted a new research initiative in which Marianna Epicoco (BETA) Agnieszka Kupzok (BETA-CEIPI Project in law and economics of IP), and Thibaud Lelong (CEIPI) propose to adapt an existing laboratory experiment in economics of intellectual property.  The presentation was based on the following two articles:

1) Buchanan, Joy, Wilson, Bart J., An Experiment on Protecting Intellectual Property, Working Paper, April 2012 (available online).

2) Engel, Christoph, Kleine, Marco, Who is Afraid of Pirates? An Experiment on the Deterrence of Innovation by Imitation, Working Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2013_07. (available online)

"Comments on the Law and & Experimental Economics Seminar, October 22^nd, 2013" by Natalia Kapyrina.

Following summer holidays, the workshop in law and economics of IP recommenced with the first meeting that took place on September 18^th.

Professor Julien Pénin presented an editorial piece entitled “Plaidoyer pour adapter le droit d’auteur à l’économie numérique” he has authored for “Economie & Management Vol. 148”. You can access Professor Pénin’s paper and the presentation below.

The seminar focused on challenges of adapting copyright to the digital age and its participants, including senior researchers such as Robin Cowan (BETA) and Christophe Geiger (CEIPI), as well as a representative of the industry in the person of Fabirama Niang of Total engaged in a lively discussion, which, at points, challenged the stance of the presenter.

Enhancing the format of the workshop, especially to increase the structured exchange across disciplines, Oleksandr Bulayenko, doctoral student at CEIPI provided a comment of the Professor Penin’s presentation.  He enriched the discussion in that he provided the participants with the legal insights as well as examples of current policy efforts undertaken in the area of copyright.  You can find his well-drafted exposé below.

The workshop organizers invite you to join this lively forum for exchange in law and economics of intellectual property.  Next opportunity is the seminar on October 22 at 12 (noon) in 5, rue Schiller. For inquiries please contact Agnieszka Kupzok kupzok[at]unistra.fr  

Paper & Presentation: Julien Pénin (BETA) paper; presentation

Comment: Oleksandr Bulayenko (CEIPI)

Reading

Seifert, Colleen, Now why didn't I think of that?  The Cognitive processes that create the obvious, 12 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 489 (2008). Available at:

http://law.lclark.edu/live/files/9529-lcb122art7seifertpdf

U.S. Supreme Court's decision in KSR v Teleflex (KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 127 S. CT. 1727 (2007)

Additional resources

1) Demo of the invention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVQLg7DFocY

2) Wright, Joshua D. and Ginsburg, Douglas H., Behavioral Law and Economics: Its Origins, Fatal Flaws, and Implications for Liberty (September 17, 2012). Northwestern University Law Review, Vol. 106, No. 3, 2012; George Mason Law & Economics Research Paper No. 12-63. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2147940  

Reading

Chapter 2 (pp. 37-70) in Landes, William, Posner, Richard, The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2003.

Additional Resources

1) Chapter 2 (pp. 37-70) in Landes, William, Posner, Richard, The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2003.

2) Breyer, Stephen, The Uneasy Case for Copyright: A Study of Copyright in Books, Photocopies, and Computer Programs, Harvard Law Review, Vol. 84, No. 2, (Dec., 1970), pp. 281-351.

3) Spellman, Barbara A.; Schauer, Frederick, Artists' Moral Rights and the Psychology of Ownership, 83 Tul. L. Rev. 661 (2008-2009), available at:

http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/tulr83&div=25&id=&page=