4iP Council Research Awards 2017


4iP Council is pleased to announce the winning papers and authors in the 2017 4iP Council Research Awards


1st place:
Patent assertion entities and standard essential patents: keep calm and carry on
by Igor Nikolic, PhD researcher in law at the University College, London.

Igor Nikolic is a PhD researcher in Law at University College London (UCL). He writes on the licensing of standard essential patents, the meaning of FRAND commitments and the Internet of Things. At UCL he works under the supervision of Sir Robin Jacob and Dr Christopher Stothers. His area of expertise in general is competition law and, especially, the interaction between competition and intellectual property laws.

Why did you enter the prize?
I entered the prize because I follow 4IP Council’s publications and database on judgment of national courts implementing Huawei ruling. My own PhD research on licensing of SEPs and FRAND fits closely with the 4IP Council’s research. My supervisor, Sir Robin Jacob, encourage me to send my work for the competition.

Why did you choose the topic for your paper?
The topic of the paper is a part of my PhD research. At UCL I write about the licensing of SEPs in the ICT and IoT sectors. As such, some chapters of my work include the meaning of FRAND royalty, FRAND royalty base, the use of injunctions and the assertion of SEPs by PAEs. The paper is a shorter version of a chapter that will be a party of my thesis.

What are your longer-term plans?
My long-term plans are to stay involved in SEPs and FRAND area, either through academic work or working in the industry.

What will you do with the prize money?
I will use the prize money mainly for research related expenses, such as, going to conferences and buying books.


2nd place:
The role of intellectual property in the intelligence explosion
by Andrea Moriggi, LL.M. candidate, law of internet technology at Bocconi University, Milan.

Andrea Moriggi is a LL.M. candidate in Law of Internet Technology at Bocconi University, Milan. He graduated in Law from the Catholic University of Milan in April 2017. He is currently working in a law firm as a trainee lawyer and has previously worked as an intern in the legal department of HP (formerly Hewlett-Packard).


Joint 3rd place:
Success of university inventions
by Michael Krause, PhD researcher at Technische Universität München.

Michael Krause is a researcher at the Chair of Corporate and Intellectual Property Law at TUM School of Management. His research focuses on the financial and societal success of patents generated from inventions of university researchers. Michael is a consultant at McKinsey & Company with focus digital topics. Prior to joining McKinsey he worked as Co-Founder and Managing Director of a startup (www.napcabs.com) and as an Associate for a Private Equity investor.

Michael holds a PhD (Dr. rer. pol.) and a Master's degree in Business and Engineering (Dipl.-Kfm.) both from Technische Universität München, Germany


Joint 3rd place:
Patent ambush: the commitment decision of the European Commission in the Rambus case.
by Jurgita Randakeviciute, PhD Candidate at Vilnius University Faculty of Law, Lithuania.

Jurgita Randakevičiūtė is a PhD candidate at the Vilnius University Faculty of Law, whose doctoral research was supported by the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. In addition, Jurgita is an intellectual property lawyer with practical experience at the Baltic law firm “Ellex”. She also holds a Master’s Degree in law from the Vilnius University and LL.M. Degree in intellectual property law from the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center. Recently Jurgita has become a junior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition


4iP Council would like to express a warm thank you to the many students and professors who participated in our award initiative this year.