Research & Webinars
Here we provide a number of reports and research summaries related to SMEs and innovation. You will find additional materials in our main research section.
Papers, briefs and publications
How OSS licensing could coinhabit with standards development organisations’ existing IPR policies
by Axel Ferrazzini
Over the past few years, standards development organisations (SDOs) have been assessing how open source software (OSS) could be used to complement standardisation activities. Given that most SDOs have pre-existing intellectual property rights (IPR) policies based on fair reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) access to essential patents, a key challenge for SDOs has therefore been to determine how OSS licensing could coinhabit with SDOs’ existing IPR policies. This has led to considerable discussion and debate and some confusion. Given the diversity of views on the topic, this document is intended to provide some clarity on some critical aspects.
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Categories: Standardisation, Licensing, Open Source Software
Leading innovations that will shape the way we take to the road
4iP Council speaks to Ray Millien, VP and Chief IP Counsel at Volvo Cars
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Evaluating the EC Private Data Sharing Principles: Setting a Mantra for Artificial Intelligence Nirvana?
by Dr. Begoña Gonzalez Otero. IP Researcher and Consultant
This article talks to recent European Commission communications on data trading and artificial intelligence with a focus on the Commission's “Guidance on Sharing Private Sector Data in the European Economy” which came with a working document: “Guidance on Sharing Private Sector Data in the European Data Economy”. Do these principles set a viable legal framework for data sharing or this public policy tool is merely a naïve expectation? Moreover, would these principles set a successful path toward a thriving European AI advancement? The author tries to sketch some answers to these and related questions.
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Categories: Digital Single Market, Artificial Intelligence and Data
Standardisation, Open Source, and Innovation: Sketching the Effect of IPR Policies
by Martin Husovec. Assist. Professor, Tilburg University (Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society & Tilburg Law and Economics Center)
This summary report explores the following questions: “What are the differences between standards development organisations (SDOs)’ IPR policies and open source licenses in dealing with IPRs?” “What frictions may arise from such differences in their interactions?” “Whether the current IPRs framework of formal SDOs is adequate to embrace OSS?”. This summary is drawn from the following paper: Husovec, Martin, Standardization, Open Source, and Innovation: Sketching the Effect of IPR Policies (July 18, 2018). Forthcoming in Jorge Contreras (eds.) Cambridge Handbook of Technical Standardization Law (CUP 2019); TILEC Discussion Paper No. 2018-034. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3215769
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Categories: Standardisation, Licensing, Open Source Software
Intellectual property licensing tensions: in utilizing open source software in the formal standard setting context
by Jingze Li. Tilburg University (Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society)
This summary report explores the following questions: “What are the differences between standards development organisations (SDOs)’ IPR policies and open source licenses in dealing with IPRs?” “What frictions may arise from such differences in their interactions?” “Whether the current IPRs framework of formal SDOs is adequate to embrace OSS?”. It is drawn by the author from a paper first published by the ITU: J. Li, "Intellectual property licensing tensions in incorporating open source into formal standard setting context — The case of Apache V.2 in ETSI as a start," 2017 ITU Kaleidoscope: Challenges for a Data-Driven Society (ITU K), Nanjing, 2017, pp. 1-8. The paper is available for download in the IEEE document library. An extended version of the paper has been submitted to the European Journal of Law and Technology and will available under SSRN.
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Categories: Standardisation, Licensing, Open Source Software
Patent hold-up and patent hold-out: evolutions in Europe and the US
by Marie Barani
This paper looks at hold-up and hold-out with respect to standard-essential patents (SEPs) in the ICT sector. It examines the evolution from a hold-up focused view in the US and Europe towards consideration of hold-out by regulatory authorities and courts. Similarities and differences regarding SEPs licensing and enforcement in both regions are addressed. This paper is an update of the article “From Patent Hold-Up to Patent Hold-Out”. The last version of this article was published in the Corporate and Global Standardization Initiatives in Contemporary Societies, 2018.
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Categories: Standardisation, IP and Competition Law
The practice of claiming a court injunction ordering an implementer to cease and desist from infringing a patent - German version.
by Uwe Scharen, Former Presiding Judge of the Federal Court of Justice in Germany. German version.
Die Erstveröffentlichung dieses Aufsatzes erfolgte in der Zeitschrift „Mitteilungen der deutschen Patentanwälte“, Heft 09/2018, S. 369, herausgegeben vom Vorstand der Patentanwaltskammer, erschienen bei Wolters Kluwer Deutschland – Carl Heymanns Verlag
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Categories: Patent System and Patent Quality, IP Enforcement, IP and Competition Law
The practice of claiming a court injunction ordering an implementer to cease and desist from infringing a patent
by Uwe Scharen - Former Presiding Judge at the Federal Court of Justice of Germany.
This paper looks at the practice of the German courts regarding the provision of injunctive relief to patent holders. After a brief analysis of the German substantive law governing patent holders’ claims for injunctive relief, the author presents the legal remedies available to the patent holder under German law for protecting and enforcing such claims. It was first published: - in German in the journal "Mitteilungen der deutschen Patentanwälte“, Issue 09/2018, page 369, which is edited by the Board of the German Chamber of Patent Attorneys (Patentanwaltskammer) and published by Wolter Kluwer Deutschland – Carl Heymanns Verlag. - in English in the "Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice", Oxford University Press, jpy127, https://doi.org/10.1093/jiplp/jpy127
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Categories: Patent System and Patent Quality, IP Enforcement, IP and Competition Law
Proprietary vs. Open Standards
by Paul Zubrinich, Kristina Medow, Anastasia Kolganova, Moritz Müller, and João Hierro Technical University of Berlin.
This paper examines the benefits and risks attached to implementing open or proprietary standards, both from the companies’ and the consumers’ perspective. It first appeared in IAM Issue 92, published by Globe Business Media Group - IP Division. To view the issue in full, please go to www.IAM-media.com.
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Categories: Standardisation, Licensing, Digital Single Market
Robots may soon be spotted in a field near you
Vitirover, the first robot mower able to cover surfaces as large and difficult as vineyards and power station parks