Who is steering the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice? The influence of Member State submissions on copyright law.

The complex and elusive structure we call ‘Europe’ is the result of multiple cultural, economic, social and political conditions under which Law, and in particular the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), is performing a unique integrating role. The juridification of the European policy process is increasingly fragile, and little understood. This study extends a novel methodology developed in our previous work (MLR 2016) that revealed the workings of the Court through empirical analysis of the disciplinary background of judges and topoi engaged in their reasoning. Our new study turns the attention to the influence of Member States on the rulings of the Court. We focus again on the domain of copyright law in which we have seen a dramatic escalation of preliminary references to the Court, suggesting a normative void. Examining 170 documents relating to 42 cases registered between 1998 and 2015, we measure empirically the impact of submissions by Member States and the European Commission on the legal interpretation of copyright concepts. The findings show that France is the most influential country by some distance, both in terms of the number of interventions (an ‘investment’ in policy) and in terms of persuasive power (France’s arguments – 69% in favour of rightholders – are more often adopted by the Court than any other country’s). Surprisingly, three smaller countries are in the next group of strong influencers: Finland (slightly skewed pro-rightholders), Portugal (strongly user friendly) and Czech Republic (moderately rightholder friendly). Other countries appear to have very specific interests, intervening less often and in a targeted manner. They may be influential despite lower participation. One of the most effective governments arguing for the interests of copyright users is the United Kingdom. Our evidence suggests that the departure of the UK from EU litigation has the potential to disturb the delicate balance of European copyright jurisprudence

Co-patents’ commercialization: evidence from China

Co-patents are outcomes of R&D collaboration, which has been proven with higher-quality. Does this mean that high-quality patents should also extend their advantage to the technology market? Based on the transaction cost theory, we use the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) database and logit model to explore the effect of co-ownership on firms’ patent commercialization and the factors of co-patents that affect their commercialization. Our findings illustrate that co-ownership has a negative impact on patent commercialization. In addition, the co-owner’s nature, country, and co-patent’s industry influence the commercialization of co-patents. Firstly, a company and a university or research institution’s co-owned co-patents are less likely to be commercialization than a company and a company coowned co-patents. Secondly, multi-countries co-owned co-patents are less likely to be commercialization than a single-country coowned co-patents. Thirdly, co-patents in high technology (hightech) industries are less likely to be commercialization than copatents in non-high-tech industries. This paper supports policymakers in implementing policies to promote the co-patents’ commercialization. Meanwhile, our paper suggests that to pursue the economic value of the R&D collaborative intellectual property fruits, R&D collaborative intellectual property fruits are not be encouraged to be applied as the co-patents.European Union (EU) TIN2016-75850-

Transport characteristics of guanidino compounds at the blood-brain barrier and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier: relevance to neural disorders

Guanidino compounds (GCs), such as creatine, phosphocreatine, guanidinoacetic acid, creatinine, methylguanidine, guanidinosuccinic acid, γ-guanidinobutyric acid, β-guanidinopropionic acid, guanidinoethane sulfonic acid and α-guanidinoglutaric acid, are present in the mammalian brain. Although creatine and phosphocreatine play important roles in energy homeostasis in the brain, accumulation of GCs may induce epileptic discharges and convulsions. This review focuses on how physiologically important and/or neurotoxic GCs are distributed in the brain under physiological and pathological conditions. Transporters for GCs at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barrier (BCSFB) have emerged as substantial contributors to GCs distribution in the brain. Creatine transporter (CRT/solute carrier (SLC) 6A8) expressed at the BBB regulates creatine concentration in the brain, and represents a major pathway for supply of creatine from the circulating blood to the brain. CRT may be a key factor facilitating blood-to-brain guanidinoacetate transport in patients deficient in S-adenosylmethionine:guanidinoacetate N-methyltransferase, the creatine biosynthetic enzyme, resulting in cerebral accumulation of guanidinoacetate. CRT, taurine transporter (TauT/SLC6A6) and organic cation transporter (OCT3/SLC22A3) expressed at the BCSFB are involved in guanidinoacetic acid or creatinine efflux transport from CSF. Interestingly, BBB efflux transport of GCs, including guanidinoacetate and creatinine, is negligible, though the BBB has a variety of efflux transport systems for synthetic precursors of GCs, such as amino acids and neurotransmitters. Instead, the BCSFB functions as a major cerebral clearance system for GCs. In conclusion, transport of GCs at the BBB and BCSFB appears to be the key determinant of the cerebral levels of GCs, and changes in the transport characteristics may cause the abnormal distribution of GCs in the brain seen in patients with certain neurological disorders

Basin analysis using seismic interpretation as tools to examine the extent of a basin ore 'play'

Stratiform and stratabound base metal ores typically form in sedimentary basins during the overall rifting process with mineralising fluids transported along the growing normal faults. Understanding the detailed structural evolution, i.e. the timing, the growth and the extent of the faults, and the distribution and thickness of the syn-faulting sedimentary packages, is critical for focusing exploration efforts. In this paper, we describe how seismic interpretation and basin analysis techniques can help to do this. We assess the potential for Pb-Zn mineralisation within the Northumberland Trough, northern England, in the context of the wider Early Carboniferous basin evolution and the associated base metal ores. Through structural interpretation of seismic reflection data, we consider the detailed evolution of the fault geometries and sedimentation in time and space, to show the extent and distribution of the Early Carboniferous faulting and growth packages at depth in the study area. We conclude that basin evolution and structural framework in northern England is very similar to that associated with the significant Pb-Zn mineralisation in Ireland. We suggest a refined model for the Carboniferous evolution of this part of the basin. The study demonstrates how the techniques of basin analysis can be a used in ore exploration to establish whether the basic structural and sedimentary framework exists to enable mineralisation. In addition to assessing the general potential of base metal mineralisation, a more precise identification of potentially suitable areas for further investigation can be made. The seismic data and basin analysis approach used in this paper and exemplified through the Northumberland case should be directly applicable to any basin ore 'play' associated with rifting and/or sedimentation. The added, significant advantage of this method is the ability to assess the 3D fault geometries, including fault linkage and growth in space and time, and the associated sedimentation - an unachievable outcome if relying solely on other geophysical and geological data traditionally used in regional ore exploration

Preliminary structural constraints from the Tyrone Igneous Complex and its metamorphic basement

Irish Geological Research Meeting 2018, University College Cork, Ireland, 23-25 February 2018The Grampian orogeny of the British and Irish Caledonides records the progressive accretion of a series of arcs, ophiolites and microcontinental blocks to the Laurentian margin between the Late Cambrian and Middle Ordovician. Accreted oceanic tracts contain elevated, but sub-economic concentrations of the Platinum Group Elements in the Shetland and Ballantrae ophiolites, Scotland, and potentially economic Cu-Zn-Pb-Ag-Au deposits in volcanic arc sequences of counties Tyrone and Mayo. Orogenic collapse was associated with significant Au mineralization in the deformed passive margin sequences (=Dalradian Supergroup) of Northern Ireland, with the UKs largest gold deposit at Curraghinalt and only active gold mine at Cavanacaw. The Curraghinalt deposit contains at least 3.5 Moz of Au, with precious metals likely to have been sourced from the underlying Tyrone Igneous Complex (TIC) – a structurally dismembered Ordovician arc-ophiolite sequence that also locally contains high-grade Au mineralization. Despite its importance and extensive research on the TIC in the last ten years, no detailed study has been undertaken on its structural history. We present preliminary results of structural measurements made across the TIC and its underlying metamorphic basement (=Tyrone Central Inlier). These were made by mapping of the Corvanaghan and Fir Mountain quarries in the Tyrone Central Inlier, as well as mapping of outcrops in the Tyrone Volcanic Group (e.g. Carnanransy Burn, Tullybrick, Cashel Rock, Beaghbeg). The Tyrone Central Inlier exposed in the quarries is composed of amphibolite facies rocks – predominantly metabasite and psammite, and minor metapelites. Leucosome-rich zones occur in the metabasites. Dips of these leucosome fabrics, bedding dips and first foliations are either similarly dipping, or show rotations around an identical SW-NE-oriented axis. Two generations of faulting are apparent in the Tyrone Central Inlier, with high angle oblique-slip to strike-slip faults with dextral indicators, crosscut by a family of dip-slip planar fault zones, with a normal sense where measurable. Zones of gold-bearing pyrite and chalcopyrite (with malachite staining) were observed near veins and faults that are N-S oriented in Corvanaghan quarry. Pegmatite and muscovite granite intrusions crosscut deformation fabrics