Academic literature on the topic 'Intellectual Property - General'

In this dissertation, I present three essays on the dynamics of intellectual property bargaining and trade, particularly of patents. The first essay presents a game theoretic model examining the sale of intellectual property rights from small inventors with buyers of varying commercialization capacity across intellectual property rights regimes with full and no property rights protection. The essay finds that in Nash equilibrium in both single seller and infinite seller scenarios, sellers generally approach firms with greater commercialization capabilities if property rights are strong, and approach firms with lesser commercialization capabilities if property rights are not protected. The second essay examines the sale of patents from small inventors and entities to firms from 1992 to 2000. I exploit the 1996 Supreme Court case Markman v. Westview Instruments, arguing that patent protection weakened afterwards, to compare patent sales to firms with greater or weaker commercialization capabilities, which I proxy using industrial patent holdings. Using a conditional fixed-effects multivariate choice model, I find that patent sales are more highly concentrated towards firms with weaker patent holdings after Markman. The last essay develops a conceptual model of patent dynamic capabilities for firms, developing several predictions in conjunction with the technology life-cycle model.

This thesis centres on the principal question of the existence of intellectual property law between 1945 and 1994 in Vietnam, and related issues that flow therefrom. A common orthodoxy held that there was no real intellectual property law in the country until the early 1980s, and that the law has been a feature of the Vietnamese legal system only since 1981. This common belief is shared by an absolute majority of scholars, lawyers, and practitioners, both domestic and foreign, who have studied the intellectual property law of Vietnam. This thesis will seek to disprove that belief by drawing on extensive archival evidence, to reconstruct, for the first time, a unique, ignored system of laws regulating copyright, patent, and trade mark, among other kinds of intellectual property protection, in existence between 1945 and 1994. In fact, the existing system of intellectual property law was composed of two main sources. The first component part is comprised of a large corpus of colonial laws from France and a small number of indigenous provisions developed by local governments modelled after the French laws, as well as a unique and local common law practice in relation to intellectual property rights which has been recorded since the seventeenth century. This part of the system dated as far back as 1864 and lasted theoretically until 1955 within the context of a colonial and semi-feudal society. The second part, addressed in the principal part of this thesis, is the theory and practice of socialist law. This part was introduced into Vietnam as early as 1945. At first, it was a supplementation to the established, continued body of colonial laws but, subsequently, from the late 1950s, it evolved to become the principal system, replacing the old laws within the framework of socialist legality, upholding the dictatorship of the proletariat and a centrally planned economy. Since 1986, Vietnam has embarked on a radically different route to develop intellectual property law in compliance with various bilateral and international intellectual property and free trade treaties. Consequently, this socialist intellectual property law was finally displaced as of 1994, as the result of various reforms driving the country towards a market-based economy under a rule of law state.

<p> Debates over the distinctive economic, political and social affordances of the post-industrial age converge in a constellation of intellectual property alternatives. This project maps four paradigmatic agendas for the production and ownership of immaterial property: Information Privatization, Immaterial Exceptionalism, Network Distribution and Ecological De-colonization. I define these paradigms through a tripartite rubric: their ontological foundations, their normative presuppositions and their institutional topologies. Grounded in these four alternatives for the production and ownership of immaterial property, I turn my investigation to the challenge of political community in a post-industrial age. Each paradigm poses a distinct challenge to traditional understandings of political community, as a theoretical proposition and empirical reality. The question of 'Whose Property?' emerges within the normative framework of Critical International Relations Theory. Within this tradition the challenge of political community is to address how political communities institutionalize and express modes of capitalist development. I pose the question of 'Whose Property?' for the purposes both of diagnosis and prognosis. My diagnosis speaks to the challenge of political community in an age of increasing global interdependency, shaped by the logics of post-industrial capitalism. The prognosis, I want to suggest, is that if we conceive political communities as a mode of collective political action, then the varied agendas for intellectual property may provide a powerful motivational argument underpinning emerging modes of political action. They may also offer institutional alternatives that can provide inroads to support the institutional realization of the emancipatory agenda of Critical International Relations Theory. By way of conclusion, this project leaves us with an overarching challenge. In looking at these approaches to intellectual property through the lens of political community, a key transformation manifests itself &ndash; the erosion of the Westphalian 'public' and rising demands for pluralized, distributed and globalized Post-Westphalian 'publics'. </p>

This research focuses on the current legal protection for agricultural biotechnological inventions in Europe and the U.S. It has been a subject of debate whether plants and agricultural biotechnological inventions which includes plants, transgenic plants and plant varieties, can be the subject of patent protection, in addition to or as an alternative to the protection afforded by plant variety rights. Biotechnological patents have been criticized for granting an excessive scope of protection to proprietors, whereas plant variety rights have been slighted for not providing enough protection. Hence, this research is built on a few main themes, namely; the discussion of IP protection for agricultural biotechnological inventions as currently in practice in Europe and the U.S., as well as the deliberation on the current system as practised in Malaysia. The research also discusses the issue of the interface between the patent regime and plant variety rights over agricultural biotechnological inventions as there are possible overlaps between the two systems, notwithstanding the exclusivity of protection of plant varieties under the PVR system. The research looks at the prospect for Malaysia as a developing country to enhance its current IP framework and legislation in order to develop its agricultural biotechnology industry. Hence, it focuses on whether there is a single system as a model of IP regime to be adopted by Malaysia in order to provide the best IP protection for its agricultural biotechnology industry. The comparative approach is inevitable, in referring to the European model and the American model as a guide. The relevant factors such as the different setting, society and economic strength are given due consideration in coming up with the proposal to amend the current intellectual property law and legal system in Malaysia. At the end, the thesis puts forward a model for Malaysia to further develop its system.

Folklore, as a specific part of the traditional heritage, forms one of the constituent elements of the cultural identity of every community. As such, expressions of folklore ought to be preserved and protected from uncontrolled and inappropriate utilisation. The problem of an adequate system of protection of folklore has been discussed over the last few decades, yet, it seems that, up to date, legislative solutions fail to entirely efficiently and comprehensively deal with this issue. At the same time, somewhat unfairly, mainly the indigenous communities have been the focus of most of these scientific and legislative approaches over the past decades. Predominant part of the existing literature and normative models of protection have used the indigenous communities as a starting point in developing folklore protection systems and schemes, leaving many other non-indigenous communities with rich folkloric opus on the margins of the attention. On account of this, one may argue that the proposed legislative solutions are not fully operational for both indigenous and non-indigenous communities. Recognising the above, and at the same time aware that folklore does not only exist in isolated parts of the world but is present in every nation and in every culture, the main focus of this thesis is to examine the protection of folklore from a specific perspective, that of the overlooked non-indigenous communities. At the same time, this thesis also looks into answering certain currently unrequited issues, aiding in that way to the development of a more globally appropriate system of protection of expressions of folklore.

This thesis examines the system of intellectual property (IP) protection in contemporary China. The IP system has undergone a series of dramatic reforms in recent years, particularly as a result of China's accession to the World Trade Organisation. From December 2001, China is now committed to comply with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). However, despite implementing TRIPS provisions into domestic legislation, infringements are still prevalent and criticism of the IP system continues. Therefore, this study aims to analyse China's compliance with the TRIPS Agreement in more detail using theories of compliance originating in international law and international relations, in order to understand this gap between implementation and compliance. Specifically, this study applies a comprehensive model of compliance previously applied to international environmental accords. This model incorporates consideration of the international IP environment and the TRIPS Agreement itself, as well as China-specific factors affecting TRIPS compliance. The model was tested using a combination of qualitative techniques, including an initial bilingual questionnaire, detailed follow-up interviews and analysis of a wide range of primary documents such as WTO papers, laws and regulations and case reports. Respondents participating in the study included legal and business professionals, both international and Chinese, with experience of the IP system in China. The qualitative data was coded and analysed using NVivo software and a model of TRIPS compliance in China created. The study concludes that previous studies of compliance with international obligations have been too narrow in scope and that a more inclusive approach to relevant factors is necessary. In terms of policy implications, this thesis will also suggest that external pressure alone will not achieve long-term changes in the IP system and that more cooperative initiatives are necessary in order to increase China's capacity, as well as intention, to fully comply with the TRIPS Agreement.

This thesis describes DesignTag, a system which can be used to identify electronic design intellectual property (IP) within operating integrated circuits (ICs). The ability to accurately identify IP within ICs has several important applications, including IP theft detection, identifying unmarked ICs and detecting counterfeit devices. Current and proposed methods for identifying IP within ICs are either inadequate for many applications, or are expensive, time consuming and difficult to use. In contrast, the DesignTag system is useful for a wide range of applications, is easy to use, and allows inexpensive and fast detection of IP. The DesignTag system consists of a small “tag” circuit which is added to a piece of IP and a tag detection sub-system which is used to detect signals transmitted by on-chip tags. These signals are transmitted using a thermal side channel, a novel approach in which information is communicated by varying the temperature of an IC package. In addition to discussing the DesignTag system as a whole, this thesis focuses on the development of the tag detection sub-system, adapting concepts from CDMA wireless communications to enable the detection of thermally transmitted tag signals.

This dissertation examines the symbiotic relationship between intellectual property (“IP”) law and cultural heritage law, with an emphasis on intangible cultural heritage (“ICH”). These two fields of law have historically operated in relative isolation from each other, but the overlap of subject matter and practical effect of implementation is evident; the actual creative and traditional practices by individuals and communities are the subject matter of both fields. The central thrust of the research is to locate the effects of these two legal fields and to inform policy, research, and legislation when this previously under-considered effect and influence exists. This is accomplished through case studies of ICH and statutory intervention in three countries with diverse ICH: tartan in Scotland; cultural tourism and branding in Ireland, and the Welsh language and eisteddfodau in Wales. These countries were selected as they 1) are geographically proximate, 2) have shared cultural history, 3) are or were recently in a union legal structure with partially devolved governance powers, and 4) are ‘knowledge-based’ economies with strong IP laws. This selection facilitates the dissertation’s original contributions to research, which include highlighting the influence of ICH on IP law and how IP shapes ICH. This interaction challenges the domestic and international differential legal treatment between developed, Global North countries as IP- and knowledge-producing and developing and Global South countries as ICH- and culture-producing. Theoretical patterns emerged from the case studies: namely, first- and second-wave adoption, which is complementary to Hobsbawm and Ranger’s invented traditions; and ‘tangification’, which identifies the process through which ICH becomes IP in a modern legal framework and highlights the risks to ICH integrity as well as the over-extension of IP law. Each of these contributions support the assertion that properly managing risk to and safeguarding ICH, which provides social and economic benefits, can also help to ensure that IP law is functioning in a manner reflecting its jurisprudential underpinnings, facilitating longevity and enforceability of the law.

The objective of this thesis is to introduce a new method for identifying and detecting Intellectual Property (IP) in digital devices. The technology operates by inserting a small, low powered digital tag into a digital design; the tag is detected using temperature as a novel covert communications channel. The IP detection technology is a non-destructive, simple to use method which quickly detects the IP via the digital device package and thus requires no prior knowledge of the system. The method is intended to be used alongside existing IP protection methods. This thesis focuses on four areas: proving that temperature can be used to communicate information by varying both the internal and external temperature of an electronic device; the development of an active tag using a range of internal digital heat generators; the design of a passive tag, using an internal heat sensor and an external heat source; the invention of a True Random Number Generator (TRNG) using the digital properties of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This research was sponsored by Algotronix, a company which develops security IP Cores for use in FPGAs. Both the active tag and TRNG were incorporated into Algotronix’ award winning DesignTag product.

This thesis presents three essays on intellectual property and the managerial aspect of its protection end exploitation. The first essay provides a systematic review of the empirical trademark literature with the goal to develop a framework that brings together different research streams. Despite its relative youth, this field of scholarly inquiry has already accumulated a critical mass of contributions that allow us to draw initial conclusions about the trademark lifecycle and its multifaceted impact on organisational functioning. Based on a systematic review of 64 academic papers containing some elements of empirical trademark analysis, five broad research areas have been identified, namely: the determinants of trademark deposits; the role of trademarks in differentiating product offerings; the relationship between trademarks and innovation activities; the strategic use of trademarks; and the impact of trademarks on firm performance. Overall, the analysis reveals that the performance-based perspective currently dominates the research landscape, with studies on trademark deposits and the trademark-innovation link to follow. At the same time, there is still relatively little known about the micro-foundations of a firm's trademarking behaviour; the complementary use of trademarks and other intellectual property rights, including its effect on value transference; and the performance implications of different trademark strategies. This essay accounts for these and other findings to outline directions for future research. The second essay focuses on the managerial aspects of intellectual property strategy. Often scholars refer to intellectual property protection as an auxiliary concept that assists in building up or proving an argument about the innovation process. By contrast, this research focuses on intellectual property strategy per se, placing specific emphasis on its managerial dimension. It adopts the upper echelons approach to examine the extent to which CEO characteristics contribute towards the variance in patent and trademark applications. Guided by the resource-based view of the firm, it suggests three areas of resource expertise – legal, scientific, and business – each of which is likely to have a distinct influence on how the chief executive perceives and subsequently responds to intellectual property issues. This proposition is further extended by incorporating the possession of general skills and the moderating role of proactive personality in the overall conceptual framework. The empirical analysis of a sample of 848 CEOs in 261 U.S. publicly-traded companies over the period 1992-2013 generally confirms the contention that executive characteristics are an important determinant for predicting the outcomes of intellectual property strategy. As such, the study reinforces the ongoing academic debate on the need to account for the managerial aspect when considering the strategic decision processes. The third essay offers an extensive analysis of how executive demography affects differentiation strategy. Previous studies of competitive strategy have provided some support for aligning CEO personality traits with product differentiation. This essay suggests further refinement of these findings and extends them by considering a wider range of managerial characteristics proposed in subsequent research. By integrating the upper echelons perspective with the hierarchical view of strategy, this work also draws attention to channels through which chief executives influence organisational outcomes. It particularly argues that along with direct involvement, decisions made by the CEO regarding corporate strategy will affect the extent of product differentiation, too. The empirical testing is based on a sample of 821 chief executives in 259 U.S. publicly traded companies over the period 1992-2013. Using trademarks to measure product differentiability, this research has demonstrated that executive tenure, age, education, functional experience, monetary incentives, CEO duality, and the founder and owner statuses – all this is statistically significant for explaining variations in differentiation strategy across companies, even after when firm and industry-specific effects are controlled for. Furthermore, it has also been shown that chief executives leverage different characteristics, depending on the type of involvement and the strategy level at which they make decisions. By confirming CEO biases that guide product differentiation, this research also contributes to the broader discussion on the importance of accounting for human interpretation in the strategy making process.