With the rise of international trade and innovation, there has been an increase in cross border trade secret violations. Using common trade secret scenarios as a springboard for analysis, the book questions whether EU private international law rules can be interpreted to facilitate the objective of the EU Trade Secret Directive and in doing so provides a detailed examination of both regimes.
Albeit often being considered as ugly duckling or stepchild of intellectual property in the past, the subject of trade secret protection has increasingly gained more and more importance. The desire to guard the sweeping economic value of intellectual property, and especially of trade secrets, prompted action by the European legislator. The recently adopted Trade Secrets Directive is aimed at harmonizing key aspects of civil trade secret protection in the EU by providing uniform definitions and requirements as well as minimum standards for procedures and remedies. In a first step, this Thesis evaluates whether this harmonization is necessary at all given the existing domestic legal regimes and the minimum requirements enshrined in TRIPS. After identifying that there is indeed a detrimental fragmentation in the EU with respect to trade secret protection, harmonization on European level proves to be desirable and imperative for advancing the internal market and cross-border activities. To be successful, however, the Trade Secrets Directive must be capable of adequately and effectively introducing an improved and comprehensive European regime on trade secrets. Therefore, the scope and content of the Trade Secrets Directive are critically assessed. Particularly, the limited reach of harmonization is highlighted. Furthermore, key substantive elements of the Trade Secrets Directive are examined with a focus on their impact on the approximation of national laws. In the end, the European legislator did create a level playing field for trade secret protection in the EU - but it is a flawed one.
In this thoroughly revised second edition, Pedro De Miguel Asensio presents a practical analysis of jurisdiction, choice of law, and recognition and enforcement of judgments in the context of online activities, examining areas where private legal relationships are most affected by the Internet. Addressing the tension between the ubiquity of the Internet and the territorial nature of national legal orders, the author sets out the latest developments across multiple jurisdictions in this dynamic field.
Introduction -- Intellectual property rights basics -- Global intellectual property holdings -- Contribution of intellectual property to U.S. economy -- The organized structure of IPR protection -- U.S. trade law -- Issues for Congress.
Offers an account of ODR for consumers in the EU context, presenting a comprehensive investigation of the development of ODR for business to consumer disputes within the EU. This book examines the role of both the European legislator with the Mediation Directive and the English judiciary in encouraging the use of mediation.
This volume is for students and scholars of intellectual property law, practitioners seeking creative arguments from across the field, and policymakers searching for solutions to changing social and technological issues. The book explores the tensions between two fundamentally competing demands made of IP law.
The Research Handbook on Intellectual Property Rights and Arbitration explores the complementary relationship between state court adjudication and arbitral proceedings in the context of intellectual property rights. Presenting contemporary research and insight into the scholarly debates on the topic, it provides a comprehensive overview of arbitrating intellectual property disputes on an international scale.
This collection of essays highlights the sometimes absurd outcomes which an unjustified overprotection of intellectual property (IP) may lead to. It collects and comments on a series of IP disputes which have taken the notion of IP protection to extremes. From individuals being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars for sharing a playlist, to sports spectators being arrested for wearing the 'wrong' dresses, passing through granting patents for inventions obtained by misappropriating traditional knowledge, and trademark protection of merely descriptive signs, this book brings together a broad range of examples from across the IP spectrum where protection and enforcement have been used or threatened on unreasonable and/or untenable grounds. The aim of the book is to criticise these excesses precisely because they harm IP; and because they contribute to creating an environment where more and more people are led to 'hate' IP, and view it as a protectionist regime which discourages creativity in innovation and ends up safeguarding the owners of monopolistic rights which restrict trade, competition and people's freedom. This is not, therefore, a book against IP, it is instead a call for change and an attempt to 'save' IP through critiquing its excesses and preventing such a fascinating area of law from continuing to be an easy target for criticism. The book includes a foreword by Jason Mazzone, Albert E Jenner Jr Professor of Law at the University of Illinois, USA.
The new OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook presents the latest trends in performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and provides a comprehensive overview of business conditions and policy frameworks for SMEs and entrepreneurs. This year’s edition provides comparative evidence on business dynamism, productivity growth, wage gaps and export trends by firm size across OECD countries and emerging economies.
Why property law needs globalization strategies -- Local to global : an institutional analysis -- Land -- Tangible goods, monetary claims, investment securities -- Intellectual property, data, and digital assets -- Security interests and proprietary priorities in insolvency
