Asia-Pacific news

This column provides a country by country analysis of the latest legal developments, cases and issues relevant to the IT, media and telecommunications' industries in key jurisdictions across the Asia Pacific region. The articles appearing in this column are intended to serve as ‘alerts’ and are not submitted as detailed analyses of cases or developments.     

The performance of university spin-offs: an exploratory analysis using venture capital data

University spin-offs are defined as firms founded by university employees. Using a large database on venture-backed start-up companies, I describe the characteristics of university spin-offs and investigate whether they perform differently than other firms. I find that venture-backed university spin-offs are concentrated in the biotechnology and information technology industries. Moreover, a spin-off tends to stay close to the university, suggesting that technology transfer through spin-offs is largely a local phenomenon. Multivariate regression analyses show that university spin-offs have a higher survival rate but are not significantly different from other start-ups in terms of the amount of venture capital raised, the probability of completing an initial public offering (IPO), the probability of making a profit, or the size of employment.

Factors fostering academics to start up new ventures: an assessment of Italian founders’ incentives

Why do university researchers decide to start-up a new venture? How can we distinguish between the different factors influencing such an important decision? To what extent are specific policies activated within universities relevant in the process of new venture creation? In this paper we try to answer these very significant questions, through an empirical analysis performed on a sample of 88 Italian academics involved in the creation of 47 spin-offs between 1999 and 2005. Our findings show that the availability of technologies with a potential for commercial exploitation, the possibility to access university infrastructures and the personal benefits are the most important incentives for academics. More generally, academics’ involvement in creating new ventures is not driven by an entrepreneurial attitude, but rather by the expectation of generating results which will enhance their academic position. Additional investments and efforts made by some universities to create more mechanisms to support spin-offs are not perceived as additional incentives. These results hold after controlling for academic founders’ institutional affiliation, status, and the companies’ growth over their first two years of existence. Implications for public policy and organizational processes are discussed.     

The rank,stock, order and epidemic effects of technology adoption: an empirical study of bounce protection programs

Karshenas and Stoneman (RAND J Econ 24(4):503–528, 1993) gathered four theories of technology adoption: the rank, stock, order and epidemic effects. Tests of these four effects reveal support for rank and epidemic but not the stock or order effects. Since then numerous other studies have tried to find evidence in support of the stock and order effects. But evidence has been elusive, until now. Further, a survey by Frame and White (J Econ Lit 42:116–144, 2004) concludes that much more work is needed into financial innovation. This paper accomplishes three goals: (1) evidence is found to support certain technology adoption theories (the order effects and possibly the stock effects), (2) since the technology under consideration is a financial innovation called bounce protection, the paper answers Frame and White’s call for papers, and (3) refinements are made to the Karshenas and Stoneman methodology and found to be superior to the original empirical model.

How does initial public financing influence private incentives for follow-on investment in early-stage technologies?

One common rationale supporting public financing programs for small firms is that initial public investment creates incentives for follow-on private investment. However, there does not appear to be a unified statement in the literature describing how initial public investment creates incentives for follow-on private investment. Focusing on external private investors, we use a two-stage net present value model to identify four effects from initial public investment on the private decision for follow-on investment. Our empirical analysis uses a sample of non-venture backed firms entering the SBIR program to examine how reduced risk, the number of SBIR awards, and size of initial public investment influence the likelihood of follow-on venture capital investment. We find the probability of follow-on venture capital investment is more likely when firms reach Phase II of the program, is less likely as firms win multiple Phase I and Phase II awards, and is more likely as the size of initial public investment in Phase I increases.

Relativierung des Rechts durch Digitalisierung

Das Recht ist in modernen Gesellschaften ein wichtiges Steuerungsmittel. Schon bisher ist es allerdings nicht das einzige Instrument gewesen, um gesellschaftliche Entwicklungen und individuelles Verhalten zu beeinflussen. Es gab und gibt Bereiche, die sich selbst organisieren und in denen staatliches Recht aus unterschiedlichen Gründen nicht das entscheidende Steuerungsmittel ist. Dieser Beitrag untersucht, wie sich die zunehmende Digitalisierung der modernen Gesellschaften auf die Steuerungsfähigkeit des Rechts auswirkt. Er kommt dabei zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Bedeutung des Rechts in der digitalisierten und hoch fragmentierten Welt abnimmt. Das Recht muss sich deshalb Verbündete in anderen Bereichen der Gesellschaft suchen, um weiterhin Steuerungsfunktionen für die Gesellschaft wahrnehmen zu können. Der Beitrag skizziert, wer als Verbündeter des Rechts in Frage kommt und wie die notwendigen transrechtlichen Kooperationen aussehen könnten.     

技术标准垄断的法律控制

在知识经济条件下知识产权对经济生活的作用日益凸显,并在高新技术的快速发展中不断得以扩张与强化,其与技术标准结合所形成的技术标准垄断,对市场竞争的危害日益严重,迫切需要反垄断法予以规制。但产生并发展于工业经济时代的反垄断法并无直接针对技术标准垄断的具体规则,导致法律适用中的严重困惑与障碍,难以适应新条件下控制技术标准垄断的要求。2007年8月我国颁布的《反垄断法》虽然规定作为知识产权垄断表现形式之一的技术标准垄断"应受"该法规制,但同样未能解决"如何"规制的问题。因此,在反垄断法的现有制度体系中构建新的控制技术标准垄断的制度规则,是解决这一问题的重要途径。该制度规则概括讲主要包括两大部分内容:一是对技术标准中的知识产权人规定特别的反垄断义务;二是对技术标准制定与实施中的垄断行为予以反垄断审查与惩处。     

论破产中尚未履行完毕的合同

尚未履行完毕的合同在破产中的处置,有不可自由选择和可自由选择两种。不可自由选择的合同的范围,主要是出于维护交易安全和保护合同当事人的预期而划定,如委托合同、附所有权保留的买卖合同、房屋租赁合同和知识产权许可使用合同等。对可自由选择的合同,完善的破产立法一方面应规定选择权,明确其性质,另一方面也应区别不同情形对其做适当的限制,在追求破产财产最大化的同时兼顾合同债权人利益的保护。在上述各个方面,我国《破产法》均有改进的余地。     

Australian climate policy and the Asia Pacific partnership on clean development and climate (APP). From Howard to Rudd: continuity or change?

This article explains, first, why Australia’s government under John Howard, together with the United States Bush administration initiated the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) and, second, why the succeeding Rudd government continued to support this initiative. Climate policy under the conservative Howard government (1995–2007) in Australia was largely dictated by fossil fuel and mineral sector interests, and reflected a close alliance with the Bush administration. The Howard government shunned the Kyoto Protocol, refused to set national binding greenhouse gas reduction targets and preferred voluntary cooperative measures with industry. The APP was part of the Howard government’s strategy to demonstrate some policy movement on climate change while postponing serious action. Climate change was a key issue in the election of the Rudd Labor government in Australia in December 2007. The Rudd government quickly ratified Kyoto, adopted emission reduction targets, and moved to introduce emissions trading. The Rudd government’s decision to continue involvement with the APP, albeit with diminished funding, was a pragmatic one. The APP was supported by industry and provided bridges to China and India—both key countries in the post-2012 UNFCCC negotiations. Finally, in order to assess the long-term outlook of the APP, the article provides a preliminary assessment as to whether the APP advances technology transfer.

Spinouts from academic institutions: a literature review with suggestions for further research

This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of the phenomenon of spinouts from academic institutions. We systematically identified spinout papers in key management journals, categorised the literature and critically synthesised the findings. We present the findings of each literature stream in turn and also identify inconsistencies and directions for further research. We conclude that while the early literature has been mainly atheoretical and focused on describing the phenomenon, a core group of recent studies were theory-driven.