Biodiesel, ethanol and other so-called "second generation" renewable fuels can be a viable alternative to fossil fuels, thus reducing or altogether eliminating dependence on them. Accordingly, on both sides of the Atlantic, substantial time and resources have been invested in the creation and implementation of programs that encourage the research and development of renewable fuels.

Nanotechnology is a multifaceted sector which is gaining greater importance day after day. Many products incorporating or made through nanotechnology applications are already on the market, and the common opinion surrounding this technology is that future applications and products will range from advanced materials science to medicine, defense, electronics, coating and so forth.

The purpose of the research is to investigate the business and legal rationale driving (or preventing) EU privacy compliance for different types of Internet companies (according to their respective business models and dimensions). The research project involves an empirical analysis of the business consequences of the EU privacy regulation in the consumer-Internet industry.

Parties to licensing agreements often agree on the licensor’s rights to the licensee’s future improvements and new applications, whether through explicit grantback obligations or through cross-licensing agreements or non-assertion clauses that also cover the licensee’s future intellectual property rights. Such agreements can be used, for instance, to prevent licensee hold-up, keep the licensor’s technology competitive, or better allocate risk among the parties.

Ensuring that the commercial objectives and the economic benefits of standard setting cooperation are realized requires that, in particular, two potential problems are addressed: first, the risk that essential IPRs are used to hold up those implementing the standard, and second, the problem that the aggregate royalties of the complementary essential IPRs reach a supra-optimal level.

The nanotechnology industry is a fast growing industry with many unique characteristics. When bringing the results of nanotechnology research to market, companies and universities run into unforeseen problems related to intellectual property rights and other legal and regulatory issues. An effective commercialization of the results of research requires basic knowledge of the relevant issues and a well-defined strategy. Even the most impressive scientific achievements can become a commercial failure due to a lack of understanding of, and the absence of a strategy relating to, the legal and regulatory issues surrounding the commercialization of a technology. This research addresses all these issues from the view of managers and scientists interested in an effective commercialization of nanotechnology innovations.

A patent confers on its holder the right to exclude others from the use of the invention protected by the patent. During the modern history of patent law, a patentee’s claim for permanent injunctive action has therefore been widely perceived as the logical consequence of a patent infringement. Such understanding changed fundamentally in the U.S., when the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the matter eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, LLC (547 U.S. 388 (2006)).

The main aim of this research project is to investigate how the U.S. and Europe are dealing with nanotechnology applied to the world of medical science and the intellectual property which might originate from this new field of science and technology. Valuation methods of this technology, both in the U.S. and Europe, will be dealt with as well as the ways to raise funds through the securitization of intellectual property in the field of nanomedicine. 

There is little disagreement in the EU and the U.S. about information security (often also referred to as cybersecurity) being an increasingly important issue warranting some extent of regulatory intervention. The regulatory approaches chosen so far in the EU and the U.S. have either (1) required the implementation of security measures; (2) imposed or limited liability for security breaches; (3) imposed criminal sanctions for malicious actors; or (4) mandated the disclosure of security breaches to allow the individuals concerned to take reactive measures.

This paper will show that all these approaches implemented in EU and U.S. law fail to address the problem of information asymmetry. The research in the area of economics of information security has long established that information asymmetry is a fundamental obstacle to any significant improvements.

The advent of Information and Communication Technologies has triggered a new and fierce debate on how democratic societies may best safeguard and preserve the free and indiscriminate flow of information to citizens in the 21st century. The Internet as a communicative and informative tool permeates every layer of society. At the same time, the Internet has become a global public forum for economic growth and innovation. The Internet’s enormous economic and societal significance raises the stakes with regard to the question of how, if at all, it should best be regulated. In this context, the Net Neutrality principle can be considered the single most pressing regulatory issue to be addressed in the near and midterm future in both the United States and the European Union. 

A patent confers on its holder (the patentee) the privilege to exclude a non-authorized party from using the technology invented by the patentee and protected by the patent. That said, a patent is only valuable if it is enforceable. Germany, Japan und the U.S. are the most important and arguably the most advanced jurisdictions, when it comes to patent right protections. Given the long industrial history of these nations who were the largest economies during the latter half of the twentieth century, a tendency to recognize a strong need for protection of innovations and inventions seems only logical. Germany, Japan and the U.S. have made substantial efforts to develop an efficient system of patent enforcement.

As a result of the omnipresent worldwide use of computers and of computer software products in practically all business sectors as well as in many (either off or on-line) social or private activities of individuals (consumers), it is clear that software contracts have become an integral part of the life of millions of companies and people. It may even be argued that software contracts constitute the most widely used type of contract in our information economy.

Industries in the utility sector, e.g. energy, transport, communications and water, are often described as regulated networks or network industries because of their dependence on some kind of physical distribution network. In both the European Union and the United States, the organisation of network industries has undergone significant changes in the past three decades. Most of these network industries have moved from vertically integrated monopolies to liberalisation. With the liberalisation of these formerly monopolistic markets, competition has become an issue. However, these networks are still regulated to a certain extent due to their importance. Therefore it is important to determine the role of antitrust law in these industries.