Bücher der Reihe Munich Studies on Innovation and Competition

This book critically analyses the relationships between intangible cultural heritage (ICH), sustainable development and intellectual property rights (IPRs). The author argues that although the use of IPRs to safeguard ICH presents challenges and has impeded sustainable development in some cases, the adoption of these rights on ICH also presents opportunities and, fundamentally, is not contrary to the spirit of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO 2003 Convention). The adoption of IPRs on ICH can form an important part of the development of sustainable safeguarding plans capable of benefitting the communities, groups and individuals (CGIs) that create, maintain and transmit such heritage. The book provides a nuanced analysis of the relationship between intellectual property (IP) law and ICH as well as examining the role of IPRs in safeguarding ICH through the lens of sustainable development. It analyses the relationship between IP law and ICH from environmental, social and economic perspectives. These perspectives allow a thorough evaluation of both the positive effects and potential pitfalls of adopting IPRs to safeguard ICH. The book addresses deeper structural matters that refer back to the safeguarding of social and environmental processes underlying ICH.

Despite the economic relevance of trade secrets, their legal protection is not based on a robust theoretical corpus, and a large uncertainty remains regarding how they should be legally apprehended. The present book investigates the foundations of their legal protection by assessing its justifications and aims to define how this legal apprehension should be organized.The book starts with a comparative analysis of the US and the EU legal frameworks. It demonstrates the parentship existing between the two systems of protection and highlights that the incremental structuring of trade secrets protection has led to legal systems lacking broad-based conceptual foundations. In both legal orders, trade secrets rely on blurred protection, formally anchored in unfair competition, the strength of which, however, comes closer to that offered by intellectual property law. In this convoluted architecture, the judiciary is required to play a decisive role,especially at the enforcement stage. However, the absence of clarity concerning the telos of trade secrets protection leads to legal uncertainty, potentially incoherent enforcement, and, all in all, to inefficient outcomes from a welfare perspective.The book then explores a theoretical framework based on a distinction between two legal objects: the undertakings¿ secret sphere and secret pieces of information. Securing the undertakings¿ secret sphere appears as a condition for the competition process to happen in an economy working under structural uncertainty. It requires objective regulations enforced by public authorities. On the other hand, the legal apprehension of secret pieces of information should be considered as falling within the realm of immaterial goods regulation aiming to solve the deficit of marketability of this type of good. This might call ¿ after conducting a careful policy trade-off ¿ for the establishment of relative (i.e. inter partes) subjective rights.

The patent system is based on "one-patent-per-product" presumption and therefore fails to sustain complex follow-on innovations that contain a number of patents. The book explains that follow-on innovations may be subject to market failures such as hold-ups and excessive royalties. For decades, scholars have debated whether the market problems can be solved with voluntary licensing i.e., open innovation, or with compulsory liability rules. The book concludes that neither approach is sufficient. On the one hand, incentives to engage in open innovation practices involving patents are insufficient. On the other hand, the existing compulsory liability rules in patent and competition law are not tailored to address follow-on innovator's interests. To transcend this problem, the author proposes a compulsory liability rule against the suppression of follow-on innovation, that paradoxically, fosters early-on voluntary licensing between patent holders and follow-on innovators. The book is aimed at patent and competition law scholars and practitioners, patent attorneys, managers, engineers and economists who either engage in open innovation involving patents or conduct research on the topic. It also offers insights to policy and law-makers reviewing the possibilities to foster open innovation initiatives or adapt the scope of patent remedies or employ compulsory licenses for patents.

Using article 7 as a normative benchmark, it shows that most of the criticism levelled at the Commission's article 9 decisions and the Alrosa judgment of the CJEU is not justified, since critics tend to over-state both the rigour of article 7 and the laxness of article 9.

Although most of the Latin American authorities share a lack of reliance on market forces, which is characteristic of EU competition law, this book argues that market entry analysis still needs to be adjusted to fit the socio-economic context that affects investment within the country and the degree to which each particular market is affected.

This book analyzes regulatory models established in the field of online music distribution, and examines their consistency with the overarching objectives of copyright law. In turn, Part II will above all appeal to scholars interested in "law and economics" and in the theoretical foundations of online music copyright.

This book addresses the question of how competition authorities assess mergers in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector so as to promote competition in innovation. Given its scope, the book offers an invaluable guide for competition law scholars, practitioners in the field, and competition authorities worldwide.

This book examines the issue of capacity withdrawals in the electricity wholesale market. Electricity generators can exercise market power in the wholesale market either by withdrawing generation capacity, or by pricing above competitive levels in order to achieve a higher market price and, thereby, increase revenues.

This study investigates whether the existing regulatory framework governing the telecommunications sector in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa effectively deals with emerging competition-related concerns in the liberalised sector.

This book analyses the topic of protecting traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) in Latin America. The study analyses regional, national and local particularities of law on paper and law in reality. The following is clear: The true test for any new legislation - in Latin America and elsewhere - is its impact on the everyday life.

In considering how to improve the patent system and enhance economic efficiency, this analysis deploys research from law, business administration, and economics to show how some patents are better protected by property law and others by liability legislation.

In particular, it assesses which policy goals (competition policy goals or industrial policy considerations) prevail in the written law and its application and provides suggestions for a further improvement of the law - with the aim to develop a transparent merger control regime that promotes long-term economic growth in China.

The book examines the potential for regional competition law systems as enforcement tools in developing countries, based on a case study of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, the Andean Community and the Caribbean Community.It analyses the allocation of enforcement competences between the regional/supranational and the national level and formulates detailed guidelines on the optimal degree of centralization or decentralization.The book addresses all readers that are interested in the enforcement of competition law in developing countries. Moreover, it provides practical insights for public institutions that wish to identify or prevent possible misallocation of competences within regional competition law systems.

An in-depth analysis of the enforcement of South African law illustrates how the law is used both to combat the negative effects of past industrial policy, and to accommodate current economic and social needs.The book is intended for all readers with an interest in the enforcement of competition law in developing countries.