Veranstaltungen

Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München, Raum 313

We study the impact of a new nationally advertised six-month intensive training program to encourage leadership in social entrepreneurship among youth. Program costs were on the order of 12,000 euros per participant. We conduct a randomized field experiment where 50 applicants were randomly allocated to the program and 50 similar applicants were rejected. Despite large training efforts we find no robust treatment effects on leadership motivation, leadership style, social entrepreneurial aspirations and intentions, skills, sustainable behaviour, entrepreneurial actions and venture progression. Those that had made more progress on their venture prior to the start of the program were more likely to make progress afterwards, irrespective of treatment. There were also large Hawthorne effects. Those having the highest expectations before selection to treatment, as measured by their self-ratings on a battery of scores, experienced the biggest drop across all scores after selection, irrespective of treatment. Training people to become entrepreneurs seems to be difficult and costly (co-authored with Florian Hoos).

Ansprechpartner: Dr. Fabian Gaessler

Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München, Raum 313

How is law structured? How does it change over time? These questions lie at the heart of legal scholarship, but they are mostly answered in narratives. Network science opens an alternative avenue, leveraging concepts from graph theory to quantify, visualize, and model legal structures and legal change. This talk draws on an original dataset of Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) decisions to illustrate how the network science perspective can enhance our understanding of German constitutional jurisprudence and to carve out more generally the promises and perils of measuring the law.

Ansprechpartner: Dr. Fabian Gaessler

Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München, Raum E10

Technical interoperability and standards will play a key role for the functioning and the further development of the digital economy in times of the Internet of Things (IoT). Standardization is placed at the interface of technology, economics and the law. While the IoT is currently emerging as a technology paradigm, economists and lawyers will gradually grasp its regulatory implications. The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition will hold a series of workshops that pursues a dual goals:

• to discuss with experts in which direction the IoT will develop with regard to specific areas where the Institute sees a need for standardization; and
• to identify and discuss the economic and regulatory implications of these changes.

Each workshop will address the different kinds of standards which in the Institute’s view are relevant for the IoT. The focus of the first workshop will be the IoT connectivity standards.

Without devices being able to connect and communicate to each other, the IoT will not succeed. Yet, the increased need for connectivity and interoperability creates numerous challenges. The workshop seeks to advance the discussion on these challenges by focusing on three areas:

• Technology and Market Landscape
• Standardization Landscape
• IPRs Landscape

The workshop will be held at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition on April 25, 2017. Participation is by invitation only.

See Program

Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München, Raum E10

European Patent Office, Isar Building, Bob-van-Benthem-Platz 1, 80469 Munich,
Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Marstallplatz 1, 80539 Munich

Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München, Raum E10

From March 16 to 18, 2017, the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition will organize the workshop “European Intellectual Property Rights and Jurisdiction in Need of a Grand Design?” which will focus on four areas:

• Legal Aspects: Union-wide IP Rights plus Copyrights: The Status Quo including the Role of the ECJ (chair: Matthias Leistner); Patents: The Status Quo including EPO and UPC and the Role of the ECJ (chair: Axel Metzger),
• Empirical Insights (chair: Annette Kur): EU Trade Mark Infringement Litigation; Patent Litigation,
• Deficits and Perspectives in the Jurisdiction of IP Rights (chair: Paul Torremans), and
• Conclusions: In Need of a Grand Design? (chair: Reto Hilty).

The goal of the workshop is to identify deficits and research perspectives for further developing the EU jurisdiction scheme.

The workshop will be held at the Harnackhaus in Berlin. Participation is by invitation only.

See Program

Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München, Raum E10

Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München, Raum 313

The increasing ability to organize information and transmit it to the market is ushering in an era where economic actors are highly responsive to the market. These shifts are particularly pronounced in the emerging technology space of the Internet of Things. Central to these disruptive innovations is a change in business operations, which has altered the architecture and conceptualization in how interactions occur; a transformation, which the patent system has not necessarily caught up with yet. Against this background this study investigates what patent governance regimes are needed in a European Union context so to assure that the Internet of Things enables the success of Small- and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). It does so, by means of a survey among SMEs active in the IOT space. In light of the evidence gathered, the study then identifies key components of 'good governance' for patent law and provide recommendations for policy makers that will allow to set the baseline for an 'Internet of Things for All.'

Ansprechpartner: Dr. Fabian Gaessler

Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München, Raum 313

We study the impact of the dual trademark system that was established in the European Union in 1996. Using a novel data set, we document that the new EU Trademark (EUTM) is a success story: the majority of new marks in EU Member States are now protected by the EUTM. The EUTM reduced the demand for national trademarks: on average, it crowded out 25% of national filings; this effect was much stronger for small countries and for foreign applicants. The EUTM also led to an overall increase in the number of marks protected in the EU, indicating easier market access. Finally, using a back-of-the-envelope calculation, we document that the EUTM generates substantial savings for the business sector. (Co-Autor: Benedikt Herz)

Ansprechpartner: Dr. Fabian Gaessler