Cross-Sectoral Differences in Intellectual Property Enforcement in Developing Countries: The Role of State-Industry Linkages

Leading developing countries have recently introduced some reforms in their national intellectual property regimes to harmonize them with international treaties and agreements. However, major differences remain in how these laws are applied to different information industries, and how they are enforced on the ground. While intellectual property law applies to a host of information products ranging from music to computer programs, governments have selectively enforced the law in some information industries, while neglecting to extend the same protection to others. Based on the comparative institutionalist approach, this article identifies two variables--state-industry linkages and level of innovative activity--that may explain the selective enforcement of intellectual property law. Intellectual property rights were expected to be better protected in information industries with strong state-industry linkages and higher levels of domestic innovation. This expectation was tested through a comparative study of four intellectual property industries from the Asian region. The results confirmed the expectation, but also demonstrated that strong state-industry linkages may independently correlate with high levels of intellectual property protection, even in industries where the current levels of innovative activity are low.     

A time to nourish? Evaluating the impact of public procurement on technological generality through patent data

Innovative public procurement is increasingly considered as a form of public support for private innovation activities by both innovation scholars and policymakers. Economic historians have suggested an even more fundamental role of public procurement in setting the pace of technological change, reporting how defense-related procurement has had a major impact on the emergence and diffusion of many general purpose technologies developed in the United States in the 20th century. In this paper, I suggest that procurement might represent one of the most important elements in creating the right soil to ‘cultivate’ a technology that may have the potential to reach high levels of pervasiveness. To test this hypothesis, I make use of patent data and patent citations. I design a quasi-experiment to compare the changes in the level of generality level over time, between a group of treated and a group of control patents. A patent is assigned to the treatment group if it receives a citation from a patent related to public procurement. Results suggest a positive and significant impact of innovative public procurement on the generality of a patent.     

Sailing in all winds: Technological search over the business cycle

Business cycles modify firms’ incentives to innovate and the direction of innovation. By introducing a new measure of patent unconventionality this paper explores the impact of the business cycle on firms’ technological search strategies. We find that during upturns firms generate inventions characterized by a higher level of technological unconventionality. We also find that financially resilient and diversified firms produce more unconventional patents. While patent unconventionality is associated with technological impact and market value, firms extract more value by investing in unconventional inventions in downturns.     

不服交通事故责任认定 不能提起行政诉讼

法律界关于交通事故责任认定的性质及其可诉性问题的争议一直都没有定论，造成了一定的司法混乱应尽快予以统一。交通事故责任认定符合具体行政行为的特征，其性质是属于鉴定结论种类的一种证据，且已被《道路交通安全法》等现行有效法律法规明确排除在行政诉论受案范围之外，对交通事故责任认定不服的不能提起行政诉讼。     

Linguistic metrics for patent disclosure: Evidence from university versus corporate patents

Encouraging disclosure is important for the patent system, yet the technical information in patent applications is often inadequate. We use algorithms from computational linguistics to quantify the effectiveness of disclosure in patent applications. Relying on the expectation that universities have more ability and incentive to disclose their inventions than corporations, we analyze 64 linguistic measures of patent applications, and show that university patents are more readable by 0.4 SD of a synthetic measure of readability. Results are robust to controlling for non-disclosure-related invention heterogeneity. The linguistic metrics are evaluated by a panel of “expert” student engineers and further examined by USPTO 112(a) – lack of disclosure – rejection. The ability to quantify disclosure opens new research paths and potentially facilitates improvement of disclosure.     

论行政事实行为的可诉性

行政事实行为是行政主体的一种行为形式，尽管不产生法律上的约束力，但行政事实行为本身所具有的特性表明了其可能对行政相对人的合法权益产生侵害，进而决定了对其所造成的损害结果进行救济的必要性。司法救济是行政事实行为法律救济的重要途径，目前，我国仍未能将行政事实行为纳入行政诉讼的范围之内，我国应尽快解决行政事实行为的可诉性问题，以达到充分保护行政相对人合法权益，规范行政权力行使的目的。     

论保证期间的法律性质

保证期间既不属于诉讼时效,也不是除斥期间,而是一种独立的期间形态,即为失权期间.如果债权人不在该期间内行使权利,保证期间届满,其保证债权将在实体上消灭,保证人也由此而免责.     

劳动公益诉讼若干问题探讨

劳动公益诉讼作为公益诉讼的一种，具有公益诉讼的一般特性和特征。我国应当建立劳动公益诉讼制度，授予工会组织和检察机关行使劳动公益诉讼起诉权；在用人单位违反劳动保护最低标准的领域中引入劳动公益诉讼；向劳动保障行政部门提出意见或发出检察建议是劳动公益诉讼的前置程序，而劳动争议仲裁并非劳动公益诉讼的必经程序。     

日本的法官回避制度研究

设置回避制度,是为了确保当事人对裁判的信任,保障法官公正无偏地作出裁判.日本民事诉讼法规定的回避制度,是参照大陆法系的德国法制定的.法官回避的原因包括两类,一是法定的回避原因,二是法定之外的回避原因.除了回避原因外,有关法律还对回避的申请方式、回避的裁判机关及不服申请等作出了规定.     

Applicant and examiner citations in U.S. patents: An overview and analysis

Prior art patent citations have become a popular measure of patent quality and knowledge flow between firms. Interpreting these measurements is complicated, in some cases, because prior art citations are added by patent examiners as well as by patent applicants. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) adopted new reporting procedures in 2001, making it possible to measure examiner and applicant citations separately for the first time. We analyzed prior art citations listed in all U.S. patents granted in 2001-2003, and found that examiners played a significant role in identifying prior art, adding 63% of citations on the average patent, and all citations on 40% of patents granted. An analysis of variance found that firm-specific variables explain most of the variation in examiner-citation shares. Using multivariate regression, we found that foreign applicants to the USPTO had the highest proportion of citations added by examiners. High-volume patent applicants had a greater proportion of examiner citations, and a substantial number of firms won patents without listing a single applicant citation. In terms of technology, we found higher examiner shares among patents in electronics, communications, and computer-related fields. Taken together, our findings suggest that firm-level patenting practices, particularly among high-volume applicants, have a strong influence on citation data and merit additional research.