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


Germany’s Patent Law and High-Tech Strategy 2025: Implications of Recent Amendments to § 139(1) Patent Act for Innovative SMEs, Start-ups and Research Organisations

by Elisabeth Opie

Germany’s Patent Law and High-Tech Strategy 2025: Implications of Recent Amendments to § 139(1) Patent Act for Innovative SMEs, Start-ups and Research Organisations

A robust patent protection system is of enormous importance for sustainable innovation. More specifically, companies' financing, commercialisation of their technologies and also their competitiveness depend on it. This paper looks at a sampling of SMEs and research organisations in Germany that help build foundations for further innovation. As illustrated in this paper, German SMEs are very often located in innovation clusters or hubs which are comprised of research organisations, academic sponsors, large and small companies. There are usually led by a team that ensures collaboration across the cluster, access to research, business planning and the promotion of innovation. Innovation clusters, while often having a physical footprint in a specific region, regularly include virtual national and international collaborations. For example, BioRN, the science and business cluster of the Rhine-Main-Neckar region, is one of the strongest biotech hubs in Germany. Covering a region with a radius of 100 km, in which science, industry and government have an ongoing and strong engagement to produce, transfer and create application for life sciences. The cluster recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and currently has more than 130 members: universities, research institutions, ten global pharmaceutical companies (including research and development sites), SMEs, local, regional and federal authorities, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) and investors. This impressive line-up explores new ways to transfer results from leading research and academic institutions to industry and local and international markets. It is in this context that this paper examines the extent to which amendments to § 139(1) of the German Patent Act (PatG) regarding protection against patent infringement could have an impact on Germany’s innovation plans. This paper was originally published in SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4527205

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The Commission’s Draft SEP Regulation – Focus on Proposed Mechanisms for the Determination of “Reasonable Aggregate Royalties”

The Commission’s Draft SEP Regulation – Focus on Proposed Mechanisms for the Determination of “Reasonable Aggregate Royalties”

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4iP Council’s Response to the European Commission Call for Evidence on ‘Intellectual property – new framework for standard-essential patents’

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EC Draft SEP Regulation and the TRIPS Agreement Compatibility Assessment

by Wayne Chinembiri

EC Draft SEP Regulation and the TRIPS Agreement Compatibility Assessment

There are many issues stemming from the draft proposal which continue to fuel discussions and encourage disagreement among scholars and practitioners alike. The issue of prime importance to the author is the question of accessibility and availability of civil judicial remedies in patent litigation. Certain provisions proposed in the draft regulation appear to interfere with rights already guaranteed by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS Agreement).

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The Proposed EU SEP Regulation: Checking Balancing Incentives, and compatibility with EU Fundamental Rights, and the TRIPS Regime

by Mohammad Ataul Karim, LL.M

The Proposed EU SEP Regulation: Checking Balancing Incentives, and compatibility with EU Fundamental Rights, and the TRIPS Regime

This paper interrogates three related issues of the Draft SEP Regulation, namely; i) balancing incentives for both SEP owners and implementers, ii) the compatibility of the mandatory FRAND determination and the restriction of SEP enforcement proposed in the Draft SEP Regulation with the EU Fundamental Rights, and iii) the compatibility of the Draft SEP Regulation with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement). Section II analyses the different incentives for SEP owners and implementers, and shows an imbalance of incentives between them in favour of implementers. Sections III and IV provide an analysis of EU Fundamental Rights and TRIPS compatibility respectively. Finally, section V of the paper draws some conclusions.

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Some practical and competition concerns with the proposed Regulation on Standard Essential Patents

by Dr Igor Nikolic

Some practical and competition concerns with the proposed Regulation on Standard Essential Patents

The aim of this short paper is to highlight some practical and competition concerns surrounding certain proposed measures of the Draft SEP Regulation addressing perceived problems. There are many aspects that could be criticised. In particular, the lack of evidence of a market failure justifying regulatory intervention, the overall unbalanced nature of the provisions, the harmful impact on innovation of European companies, and geopolitical spill-overs which could lead to the fragmentation of the global standardisation ecosystem.

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The Economic Impact of Patent Holdout (Webinar and Exec. Summary)

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