Patent litigation insurance and R&D incentives

A major policy concern regarding patenting activity is related to the actual enforceability of the patents granted by Patent Offices. The risk of facing elevated legal costs to defend patent rights can affect ex-ante incentives to invest in R&D. This paper analyses whether the availability of insurance policies that cover legal expenditures for patent litigation could increase the appropriability of the innovation. We model a situation in which an incumbent innovator is endowed with a valid patent and an entrant imitator can either directly enter the market or try to apply for a patent, hoping that an error will be made by the Patent Office. The incumbent can accommodate the entrant, file a suit to a civil court or offer a settlement agreement. We model the presence of heterogeneity in the risk that the patents will face an error by both patent examiners at Patent Offices and judges at civil court. We analyse the changes in expected profits for the innovator when given the possibility of buying an insurance policy which will cover legal costs in the event of trial. We compare the cases in which (i) coverage is voluntary and the insurer can discriminate perfectly between risky patents; (ii) coverage is voluntary and the insurer cannot discriminate between patents, and (iii) coverage is compulsory. The model highlights a set of peculiar strategic characteristics of insurance for legal expenditures which contribute to singling out the reasons underlying the underdevelopment of this market. We suggest that the crucial reason for such a failure is not adverse selection; consequently, we challenge the benefits of making coverage compulsory.     

“测谎”结论能否作为鉴定证据——关于中国心理测试技术研究应用及其现状的思考

"测谎",是日常概念,绝非科学术语。其科学称谓是犯罪心理测试技术,可简称心理测试技术或心测技术。测试结果能否作为证据,说法很多。中国心理测试技术研究与应用的现状,不容乐观;研讨其证据价值,必须首先对此状况及问题有深入了解。鉴于目前的混乱状况,将心理测试技术作为我国诉讼证据的条件尚不成熟。     

Dueling experts and imperfect verification

In the Dueling Experts Game, adversarial experts strategically produce “good” or “bad” evidence to support their partisan testimony. Good evidence is probative while bad evidence has no evidentiary value. The new feature of this Game is that Judge sometimes erroneously identifies good evidence as bad evidence and vice versa. Along the Game’s equilibrium path, each partisan expert produces only good evidence if it supports his side. When favorable good evidence is unavailable, an expert produces bad evidence to support his testimony. Hence, dueling experts always contradict one another. Despite their conflicting testimony, one of the experts invariably produces the available good evidence for Judge. Therefore, Judge always receives the available good evidence. A central result is that the quality of experts, including their ability to persuade judges using available good evidence, and the quality of judges – their ability to distinguish good from bad evidence – determine the accuracy of verdicts. Remarkably, the likelihood that experts are endowed with good evidence does not matter provided that this likelihood is not identically zero or one.     

论小额诉讼程序的构建

随着我国社会主义市场经济的飞速发展和人们权利观念的逐渐增强，民事纠纷尤其是小额纠纷的案件数量迅速增加。建立一种简易、快捷、低廉的法律制度，利于保障每一个公民能够通过诉讼实现自己的权利。设立小额诉讼程序，是司法改革的必然选择。从小额案件的特点以及我国现有的实践情况看，小额诉讼建立的价值取向：低成本和高效率。     

从代表议案和建议看代表属性及其履职之效率——以十一届全国人大二次会议为例

代表属性通过代表的履职活动展现出来,通过分析各种不同类型的全国人大代表履行职务时所提出的议案和建议的不同内容,可以揭示全国人大代表的现有结构、属性及履职效率之间的关系。从实践层面来看,为了进一步发挥人大制度在民主政治建设中的应有作用,就必须结合代表应有的属性,通过制度创新来提升代表的责任意识和履职水平。惟其如此,才能逐步完善人大制度,更好地落实人民当家作主的宪法原则。     

警务驾驶技术信息化应用研究

加强警务驾驶信息化建设与应用,是强化民警驾驶技能的重要举措。依靠"训练系统"的科技手段,收集视、听、做等方面的信息,以模块化教学模块,建立独特的控制机制,有效选择运用警务驾驶信息化的多种方法,并凭借警务驾驶信息化应用的优势,使警务驾驶技能训练更加有效。     

基于制度效率的后发国家经济增长研究

制度决定论将制度作为内生变量纳入经济增长模型,但后发国家可以通过＂搭便车＂的方式引进制度,这时制度应作为外生变量考虑。以制度中性与一个周期条件下制度相对稳定为前提,以索洛增长模型作为分析工具,从制度效率的角度来探究制度影响国家经济增长的根本原因。同时解析影响制度效率的因素,强调一国的国民素质具有制度运行的基础核心作用。     

论检察机关支持起诉在行政公益诉讼中的运用

近年来，公共利益的损害伴随着经济的高速发展也日趋严重，国有资产流失、环境公害等危害公益的事件频繁发生，由于法律的滞后性及相关行政机关的懈怠性，公共利益常处于诉讼保护的盲区。为了维护公共利益，行政公益诉讼应运而生。然而，由于检察机关自身的属性，不能以原告身份参与到诉讼中，因此，支持自然人、法人或其他组织提起行政公益诉讼势在必行。     

浅谈司法公正的制约因素及实现途径

司法公正是人类共同追求的价值观念和价值目标,是法治精神的内在要求和基本内容,是民众对法制的必然要求。但司法实践中却存在着许多不公正的现象,文章对制约司法公正的因素进行分析,并从中找出对策,从根本上真正保证司法公正的实现。     

我国民事诉讼中诉讼要件的缺失与重构

诉讼要件是大陆法系民事诉讼的重要理论，具备独特的功能与意义，主要包括诉讼要件构成、审查方式、裁判方式等。我国民事诉讼立法、实践中缺乏统一、完整的诉讼要件规定，造成了起诉高阶化、审裁分离、缺乏应对诉讼要件变化的制度等顽疾。应以诉讼要件理论为指导，对民事诉讼进行系统的改造，包括植入诉讼阶段模式，降低起诉门槛，增加上诉与再审中合法性的审查等。