Property rights in personal data: Learning from the American discourse

This contribution is an attempt to facilitate a meaningful European discussion on propertization of personal data by explaining the idea as it emerged in its ‘mother-jurisdiction’, the United States. The piece starts with an overview of how the current US legal system addresses the data protection problem and whether, according to the US commentators, the law does it effectively. Furthermore, the contribution presents propertization of personal information as an alternative to the existing data protection regime and one of the ways to fill in the alleged gaps in the US data protection system. The article maps the US propertization debate. Pro-propertization arguments are considered from economic perspective as well as from the perspective of the limitations of the US legal and political system. In continuation it analyses proposals on how property rights in personal data would have to be regulated, if at all, in case the idea of propertization is accepted. The main points of criticism of propertization are also sketched. The article concludes with a brief summary of the US propertization discourse and, most importantly, with a list of the lessons Europeans can learn from their American counterparts engaging in the debate in the home jurisdiction. Among the main messages is that the outcome of the debate depends on the definition of the problem propertization is called on to tackle, and that it is the substance of the actual rights with regard to personal data that matters, and not whether we label them as property rights or not.     

Property rights and externalities: the uneasy case of knowledge

Drawing from Coase’s methodological lesson, this article discusses the specific case of knowledge, which was for a long time chiefly governed by exchange mechanisms lying outside the market, and has only recently been brought into the market. Its recent, heavy “colonization” by the property paradigm has progressively elicited criticism from commentators who, for various reasons, believe that the market can play only a limited role in pursuing efficiency in the knowledge domain. The article agrees with the enounced thesis and tries to provide an explanation of it that relates to the fact that in specific circumstances property-rights can produce distinct market failures that affect the social cost and can consequently prevent attainment of social welfare. In particular, the arguments set forth here concern three distinct externalities that arise when enforcing a property rights system over knowledge. First, the existence of a property right may itself alter individual preferences and social norms, thus causing specific changes in individuals’ behaviour. Second, the idiosyncratic nature of knowledge, as a collective and inherently indivisible entity, means that its full propertization can be expected to produce significant harm. Third, property rights can cause endogenous drifts in the market structure arising from the exclusive power granted to the right holder: though generally intended as a necessary mechanism for extracting a price from the consumer, in the knowledge domain property rights can become a device for extracting rents from the market.     

The battle for patent rights in plant biotechnology: evidence from opposition fillings

This paper describes and analyzes the occurrence and extent of oppositions initiated against plant biotechnology patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO). The opposition mechanism is a legal procedure that allows any third party to challenge the validity of patents awarded by the EPO. Results indicate that the opposition rate is far greater in plant biotechnology than in other emerging industries. Consistent with theoretical predictions, the empirical findings suggest that opposed patents are disproportionately those that score high on features that proxy for their “value” or “quality”. In contrast to previous findings, however, the results show that large-volume applicants are more likely to be opposed. Because the boundaries of plant biotech patents are ill-defined, large patent portfolios do not promote cooperative behavior such as licensing or settlements. The analysis rejects the hypothesis that awardees are subject to “nuisance” or “frivolous” oppositions. Instead, the opposition procedure serves as an error correction mechanism.     

公司法人财产权与公司治理

从探讨公司法人财产权和公司治理二者关系角度入手,对中国公司法中"法人财产权"的内涵与性质加以阐释和分析。法人财产权是一种综合性的权利,包括对实物财产享有的所有权和对其他财产享有的完整权利,法人财产权的确立与归属是公司治理的基础与保障,是公司治理权力分化与制衡的出发点及归宿,而科学有效的公司治理结构的建构与确立也维系着法人财产权的地位,是实现法人财产权的组织保证。新《公司法》删除了原《公司法》关于公司中的国有资产所有权属于国家的规定,为建立现代意义上的公司制度与科学合理的公司治理结构奠定了基础。     

Fiscal Federalism in Transition: Evidence from Ukraine

Effects of fiscal federalism on redistribution and economic growth are analyzed for Ukraine, a country with large regional differences. Since there is virtually no such empirical literature, except a study of the German case, and since there are several potential flaws, the results must be interpreted in a very tentative way. We find that this relatively poor, disorganized country with little democracy has effectively redistributed income from relatively wealthy to relatively poor regions and thus promoted regional economic convergence, and even dampened the recession in both types of regions. We also find that the evidence does not reject the view that relatively poor regions used the transfers in a growth-conducive fashion, and the paper argues that the findings may have implications beyond the case of Ukraine. But the analysis is tricky, uncertain, and merely a small step to an interesting research issue.     

The effects of stronger intellectual property rights on technology transfer: evidence from Japanese firm-level data

This paper presents the theoretical framework and empirical analysis of the effect of stronger Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) on technology transfer from parent firm to its subsidiaries in foreign countries. The results of empirical testing, based on the firm-level panel data of Japanese MNCs’ foreign subsidiaries, show that the stronger protection of IPRs has a positive effect on the promotion of intra-firm technology transfer after controlling for market specific factors in the host countries as well as parent-subsidiary firm specific factors. They are consistent with our theoretical prediction and the results of the previous studies based on US firm-level data.

Public bads and private firms: efficiency and sustainability with different allocations of voting rights

A number of authors have proposed that firms can internalize externalities through their shareholders. This paper investigates this proposition, focusing on public bads. Theoretically it is, indeed, possible that shareholders decide that the firm reduces its public bads at the cost of profits, thereby increasing Pareto-efficiency. One of the factors which help determine the size of the reduction is the number of shareholders with a (very) small stake in the firm. The greater this number, the greater the reduction will tend to be. It is shown that the reduction in public bads can be reversed by takeovers, but under special conditions only while takeover defences may also be used. Unfortunately, there are a number of factors which significantly limit the internalization of external effects in practice. The paper also discusses a change in the legal share-voting system whereby the direct owners of the shares (i.e., the shareholders) no longer possess, in their capacity of direct owners, the legal right to vote at the General Meetings of firm owners. Instead, these rights become the property of the beneficial owners of the shares (i.e., the people who ultimately provided the money to buy the shares), but on the condition that they delegate their voting rights to a proxy voting institution. This institutional innovation may significantly increase the internalization of external effects among other things because many beneficial owners have a tiny stake in the firm.     

从行政法的角度看《物权法》的实施

<物权法>是一部民事基本法律.从行政法的角度看,该法与不动产登记行政行为、没收及扣押等具体行政行为以及抽象行政行为的权限和效力等密切相关,对于规范征收、征用具有重要的作用,对建设法治政府将产生深远的影响.     

奥林匹克标志的知识产权保护初探

保护好奥林匹克标志的知识产权,既是我国在《第29届奥林匹克运动会主办城市合同》中对国际奥委会的一项承诺,是评价承办2008年奥运会成功与否的一个重要标准,也是对我国知识产权保护制度、法治环境及中国政府行政执法能力进行综合评价的重要因素.目前我国已就此项工作构建起了包括著作权法、商标法、专利法、《奥林匹克标志保护条例》、《北京市奥林匹克知识产权保护规定》等法律法规,以及各级人民法院知识产权庭在内的法律保障体系.本文在对奥林匹克标志知识产权保护领域的若干概念进行简略释义的基础上,对国内外保护奥林匹克标志知识产权保护相关理论、立法与实践作了较为详细的剖析,从而对即将举办的2008年北京奥运会提供法律方面的支持.     

On deriving rights to goods from rights to freedom

This paper examines a particular type of argument often employed to defend welfare rights. This argument contends that welfare rights are a necessary supplement to liberty rights because rights to freedom become hollow when their bearers are not able to take advantage of their freedom. Rights to be provided with certain goods are thus a natural outgrowth of a genuine concern to protect freedom.I argue that this reasoning suffers from two fatal flaws. First, it rests on an erroneous notion of what it is to have a right, neglecting the fact that the exact source of a person's inability to exercise a right is crucial to determining whether that right is being respected. Second, the argument equivocates as to the freedom that rights are intended to protect, sometimes confusing freedom with ability, sometimes confusing not being free with not having other desired things, and sometimes confusing what a person is able to do with what a person is entitled to do.     

巴尔的摩:游离于人权之外的城市

活跃的暴力,灰暗的城市 身为弗雷迪的生前好友,惠特尼回忆道:"弗雷迪人很好,在他被警察带走前10分钟,我们还在聊天."被追问到当天的细节,惠特尼声明:"弗雷迪什么也没有做,只是在街上逛游,他没有工作,我也没有工作,我们住在同一个社区,这里就业率本来就低,我们迫切需要工作,我们随身带了弹簧刀,但那是合法的,不过警察显然对我们有偏见,十分粗鲁,不分青红皂白,就对他实施暴力,他们对弗雷迪受伤的事实置之不理.如果没有媒体的介入,说不定这些警察还不会受到起诉."     

职业知识产权人：知识产权人才培养新模式探析

知识产权已经成为自主创新的目标和主要标志,知识产权人才成为实施国家知识产权战略、建设创新型国家的重要支撑和基础条件之一.适应形势发展需求,构建满足不断增长的人才需求,是当前大学知识产权教学和知识产权人才培育的重要课题之一. "职业知识产权人"概念及其内涵的研究,有助于探索新时期知识产权人才培养新模式.