There is a large body of research in economics and law suggesting that the legal origins of a country—that is, whether its legal regime is based on English common law or French, German, or Nordic civil law—profoundly impacts a range of outcomes. However, the exact relationship between legal...

Patent licensing contracts commonly prohibit licensees from challenging the validity of the patents at the basis of the contract or penalize such challenges. A considerable debate has emerged as to whether courts should enforce these challenge clauses. We argue that this debate has not gone far...

This is a commentary of the judgement of the General Court of 12 December 2018 which dismissed the appeal brought by the French broadcaster Groupe Canal + against the Commission’s decision accepting the commitments offered by Paramount in the cross-border pay-TV case (AT.40023). This ruling...

The Italian and European regulatory framework for patents would benefit from further improvements in order to foster dynamic competition between Italian firms. At the national level the exclusive allocation of the right to patent inventions to universities, rather than to researchers, would...

In the digital networked environment, user's expectations of getting easy access to digital content all the time and through a multitude of devices clash with the territorial structure of copyright and the complications of the licencing process. Under these circumstances, systems of collective...

A recent investigation of the EU's pharmaceutical market carried out by the European Commission has been shedding new light on the question of abuse of a dominant position pursuant to Article 102 TFEU by holding, acquisition or exploitation of IP rights. This so-called 'sector inquiry'...

Electronic sports (esports) offers a novel case study in how antitrust analysis should approach multi-sided markets that rely on the ability of numerous entities to access intellectual property (IP). A game publisher's IP in its game allows for permissible monopolization, but also creates...

PAEs have been much in the news because of certain practices that imply their demand for royalties is nothing more than extortion based upon the nuisance value of a lawsuit the PAE might bring, or explicitly threatens to bring, if no agreement is reached with the party practicing the patent. The...