Access to standard essential patents and antitrust enforcement: the case for licensing component manufacturers

The ability to compete on numerous markets today depends on access to technological standards. When standards are protected by standard essential patents (SEP), a license to use such SEPs will be required. There have been numerous disputes in various jurisdictions over refusals to license SEPs. Most recently, disputes concern access to SEPs by the manufacturers of components. Some SEP holders deny access to their standard essential patents to component manufacturers and prefer to license end product producers. This practice has become a highly contentious issue around the world. In particular, manufacturers of components who are denied access to SEPs claim that such refusals amount to violations of competition rules. The author examines this highly contested practice is an attempt to show when denying access to an SEP license could harm competition

Opłaty od urządzeń kopiujących i czystych nośników w prawie autorskim

The paper deals with copyright levies in copyright law. Copyright levies are intended to compensate subjects entitled to works protected under copyright law for any loss arising from reproduction of such works for private use. It is claimed that the assumptions that underlined the imposition of copyright levies in Germany in the sixties of the last century are now largely outdated, while the very model of copyright levies contains many faults which cannot be repaired within the existing system. Judgments delivered by the CJEU with regards to the provisions of Directive 2001/29/EC on compensating losses caused by reproduction of work protected under copyright law for private use have been analysed to establish the requirements specified in EU law regarding compensation for losses arising from private use (of reproduced protected works), including models alternative to those currently binding in the EU. Concluding, the author postulates replacement of copyright levies with a common fee.Autor zajmuje się problematyką opłat od urządzeń kopiujących i czystych nośników w prawie autorskim. Mają one na celu zrekompensowanie uprawnionym do dóbr chronionych w prawie autorskim strat wynikających z zwielokrotniania tych dóbr w ramach użytku prywatnego. W tekście wskazano, że założenia przyjęte przy wprowadzaniu opłat w latach sześćdziesiątych XX w. w Niemczech, są w dużej mierze obecnie nieaktualne, a model opłat ma wiele wad, których w ramach tego systemu nie da się usunąć. Autor analizuje również orzecznictwo Trybunału Sprawiedliwości Unii Europejskiej odnoszące się do postanowień dyrektywy 29/2001, dotyczących rekompensowania uprawnionym strat wynikających ze zwielokrotniania dóbr chronionych w prawie autorskim w ramach użytku prywatnego. Analiza ta ma na celu ustalenie wymogów wynikających z prawa unijnego dla modeli rekompensowania strat związanych z użytkiem prywatnym, w tym modeli alternatywnych wobec modelu obecnie dominującego w Unii Europejskiej. W ostatniej części autor proponuje odejście od opłat pobieranych od urządzeń oraz czystych nośników i zastąpienie ich opłatą powszechną

Access to standard essential patents and antitrust enforcement: the case for licensing component manufacturers

The ability to compete on numerous markets today depends on access to technological standards. When standards are protected by standard essential patents (SEP), a license to use such SEPs will be required. There have been numerous disputes in various jurisdictions over refusals to license SEPs. Most recently, disputes concern access to SEPs by the manufacturers of components. Some SEP holders deny access to their standard essential patents to component manufacturers and prefer to license end product producers. This practice has become a highly contentious issue around the world. In particular, manufacturers of components who are denied access to SEPs claim that such refusals amount to violations of competition rules. The author examines this highly contested practice is an attempt to show when denying access to an SEP license could harm competition

The Effect of FRAND Commitments on Patent Remedies

This chapter addresses a special category of cases in which an asserted patent is, or has been declared to be, essential to the implementation of a collaboratively-developed voluntary consensus standard, and the holder of that patent has agreed to license it to implementers of the standard on terms that are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND). In this chapter, we explore how the existence of such a FRAND commitment may affect a patent holder’s entitlement to monetary damages and injunctive relief. In addition to issues of patent law, remedies law and contract law, we consider the effect of competition law on this issue

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.publishedVersio

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (vol 13, 517, 2022) : National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (Nature Communications, (2022), 13, 1, (517), 10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9)

Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.In this article the author name ‘Agustin Ibanez’ was incorrectly written as ‘Augustin Ibanez’. The original article has been corrected.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic.

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics