Determinants of Patent Litigation in Germany

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the determinants of patent litigation in Germany, based on information from suits filed during the period from 1993 to 1995 at two of the three most important district courts. A control group was formed by selecting a random sample from the population data taken at this period of time. The results of a probit analysis show that relatively valuable patents are more likely to be involved in litigation cases than the average patent. Patents which have survived opposition are more likely to encounter subsequent litigation actions after the granting procedure than patents which have not been opposed. Patent owner?s ability to trade patents with potential infringers and to interact with them repeatedly appears to promote pretrial settlement and to prevent patentees from filing suits. In contrast to results for the U.S., individual patent owners in Germany were found to be no more likely to face litigation than companies. --Patent,Infringement,Litigation,Innovation

WP 89 - Coordination of national social security in the EU

*Abstract* The coordination of the national social security is one of the crucial fields of cooperation between EU Member States. The coordination is based on the principle of application of one legislation at a time in cases of employment being executed in one or more than one Member State. Persons moving within the EU are thus subject to the social security scheme of only one Member State. The rules aim to guarantee equal treatment and non discrimination by the application of the “lex loci laboris” principle. In 2004 the European legislator concluded modernised social security coordination rules (Regulation EC 883/2004) in order to simplify the current rules. The idea was also to limit the number of specific rules for different categories of professional activities. An Implementing Regulation was concluded in April 2009. In this paper the author explores the (possible) complications related to the new rules. The paper consists of an overview of the rules, of the basic changes and of pending questions. At the end a set of recommendations is formulated meant to contribute to the necessary tailor-made solutions. *Samenvatting* De coördinatie van de nationale sociale zekerheidstelsels vormt een cruciaal terrein van samenwerking tussen de lidstaten van de Europese Unie. Die coördinatie is gebaseerd op het uitgangspunt dat slechts één wetgeving van toepassing kan zijn in situaties waarbij in een of meerdere lidstaten gewerkt wordt. EU onderdanen die gebruik maken van het vrij verkeer kunnen zodoende slechts onderworpen zijn aan het sociale zekerheidsstelsel van een lidstaat. De regels dienen de gelijke behandeling te garanderen en discriminatie tegen te gaan door de toepassing van het “lex loci laboris” principe (het werklandbeginsel). De Europese wetgever besloot in 2004 tot een modernisering en vereenvoudiging van de coördinatieregels voor de sociale zekerheid (Verordening EC 883/2004). Achterliggende gedachte was tevens het terugbrengen van het aantal specifieke regels voor verschillende beroepscategorieën. De implementatiewetgeving werd afgerond in april 2009. In dit werkdocument behandelt de auteur enkele (mogelijke) complicaties die kunnen voortvloeien uit de nieuwe regels. De studie geeft een overzicht van de regelgeving, van de belangrijkste veranderingen en van open kwesties. Aan het eind worden aanbevelingen geformuleerd die een bijdrage beogen te zijn voor de noodzakelijke op maat gesneden oplossingen.

Release of proteins via ion exchange from albumin-heparin microspheres

Albumin-heparin and albumin microspheres were prepared as ion exchange gels for the controlled release of positively charged polypeptides and proteins. The adsorption isotherms of chicken egg and human lysozyme, as model proteins, on microspheres were obtained. An adsorption isotherm of chicken egg lysozyme on albumin-heparin microspheres was linear until saturation was abruptly reached,\ud \ud The adsorption isotherms of human lysozyme at low and high ionic strength were typical of adsorption isotherms of proteins on ion exchange gels. The adsorption of human lysozyme on albumin-heparin and albumin microspheres fit the Freundlich equation suggesting heterogeneous binding sites. This was consistent with the proposed multivalent, electrostatic interactions between human lysozyme and negatively charged microspheres. Scatchard plots of the adsorption processes of human lysozyme on albumin-heparin and albumin microspheres suggested negative cooperativity, while positive cooperativity was observed for chicken egg lysozyme adsorption on albumin-heparin microspheres.\ud \ud Human lysozyme loading of albumin-heparin microspheres was 3 times higher than with albumin microspheres, with long term release occurring via an ion exchange mechanism. Apparent diffusion coefficients of 2.1 × 10-1 and 3.9 × 10-11cm2/sec were obtained for the release of human lysozyme from albumin-heparin and albumin microspheres, respectively. The release was found to be independent of diffusion, since the rate determining step was likely an adsorption/desorption processes. An apparent diffusion coefficient of 4.1 × 10-12 cm2/sec was determined for the release of chicken egg lysozyme from albumin-heparin microspheres.\ud \ud Low release of the lysozymes from albumin-heparin microspheres was observed in deionized water, consistent with the proposed ion exchange release mechanism. Overall, albumin-heparin microspheres demonstrated enhanced ion exchange characteristics over albumin microspheres

Release of macromolecules from albumin-heparin microspheres

Hydrophilic microspheres based on albumin-heparin conjugates have been prepared as a macromolecular delivery system. The soluble albumin-heparin conjugate was synthesized and crosslinked in a water-in-oil emulsion with glutaraldehyde to form microspheres in the same manner as for albumin microsphere preparation. The microspheres were characterized in terms of their size and swelling properties. The loading of macromolecules into albumin-heparin microspheres was carried out concurrently and after microsphere preparation. FITC-dextran was applied as a model macromolecule. A higher loading content was achieved when loading was carried out concurrently with microsphere preparation than when loaded subsequently. Prolonged release of FITC-dextran from albumin-heparin microspheres was achieved and attributed to the high molecular weight of the macromolecule. The release of FITC-dextran was modulated by crosslinking density, loading content and the method of drug incorporation. Apparently, the mechanism of FITC-dextran release from albumin-heparin microspheres was dependent on the method of drug incorporation. For release of FITC-dextran from the microspheres, assuming negligible interactions, a diffusion coefficient of 1.7 × 10¿9 cm2/s was determined

Point-wise Map Recovery and Refinement from Functional Correspondence

Since their introduction in the shape analysis community, functional maps have met with considerable success due to their ability to compactly represent dense correspondences between deformable shapes, with applications ranging from shape matching and image segmentation, to exploration of large shape collections. Despite the numerous advantages of such representation, however, the problem of converting a given functional map back to a point-to-point map has received a surprisingly limited interest. In this paper we analyze the general problem of point-wise map recovery from arbitrary functional maps. In doing so, we rule out many of the assumptions required by the currently established approach -- most notably, the limiting requirement of the input shapes being nearly-isometric. We devise an efficient recovery process based on a simple probabilistic model. Experiments confirm that this approach achieves remarkable accuracy improvements in very challenging cases