This paper attempts to estimate the change in sales associated with pharmaceutical patent expiration. Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and patent expiration information from historical Orange Book publications, I estimated monthly sales associated with choice pharmaceutical patents. I then used a fixed-effects model to estimate the average change in sales before and after initial patent expiration, controlling for patent extension factors. My findings support that pharmaceutical patent expiration results in a statistically significant drop in sales by 38% on average within this sample, and further, that patent extensions had a negligible effect on this relationship. The question of patent expiration’s effect on sale is economically important for the sake of evaluating the efficacy of pharmaceutical patent law in protecting the interests of brand-name and generic drug manufacturers as well as paying consumers.

The problem of copyrights recently is one of the most relevant, talking about legal aspects of information society. The objective risk of expropriation of sofware or various documents arises, while using communicative network, which is very popular among members of the society nowadays, without compliance with authors. This concerns the lack of legislation, which should regulate the rights of using the software, variuos files or production situated in the network. The problem of copyrights is the most relevant for data put in the net, as communicative web has become more and more popular source of information lately. Practice evidences, that protection of intellectual property only by means of civil defence of copyrights, is not possible, therefore administrative and criminal responsibility carries out an important role. Consequently, the administrative and criminal responsibility for violation of intellectual property will be analysed in the final work. The peculiarities of violation of administrative and criminal responsibily were not studied widely by any of the lithuanian authors. While improvement of information technologies is increasing, thereby it is essential to sift legal laws regulating administrative and criminal responsibility for violation of these rights, taking into consideration both theoretical and practical aspects. So, in this work the administrative and criminal responsibilty for violation of intellectual property and its pecularities applied in the... [to full text]

The first rule of writing is an important one: writers should not plagiarize; what they write should be their own. It is taken for granted. But who made the rule? Why? And how is it enforced? This dissertation traces the history of proprietary authorship from the earliest distinctions between imitation and misappropriation in the humanist schoolroom, through the first recorded uses in English of the Latin legal term plagiary (kidnapper) as a metaphor for literary misappropriation, to an inchoate conception of literary property among a coterie of writers in early modern England. It argues that the recognition of literary misappropriation emerged as a result of the instrumental reading habits of early humanist scholars and that the subsequent distinction between authors and plagiarists depended more upon the maturity of the writer than has been previously recognized. Accusations of plagiarism were a means of discrediting a rival, although in this capacity their import also depended largely upon one’s perspective. In the absence of established trade customs, writers had to subscribe to the proprieties of the institutions with which they were affiliated. They were deemed plagiarists only when their actions were found to be out of place. These proprieties not only informed early modern definitions of plagiarism; they also helped define the perimeters of proprietary authorship. Authors who wished to make a fair profit from labours in print had to conform to the regulations of the Stationer’s Company, just as authors who maintained a proprietary interest in their manuscripts had to draw upon legal rhetoric, such as plagiary, in the absence of a legally recognized notion of authorial property. With new information technologies expanding the boundaries of proprietary authorship everyday, the proprieties according to which these boundaries were first defined should help teachers and researchers not only better to understand the nature of Renaissance authorship but also to equip their students for the future.

The first rule of writing is an important one: writers should not plagiarize; what they write should be their own. It is taken for granted. But who made the rule? Why? And how is it enforced? This dissertation traces the history of proprietary authorship from the earliest distinctions between imitation and misappropriation in the humanist schoolroom, through the first recorded uses in English of the Latin legal term plagiary (kidnapper) as a metaphor for literary misappropriation, to an inchoate conception of literary property among a coterie of writers in early modern England. It argues that the recognition of literary misappropriation emerged as a result of the instrumental reading habits of early humanist scholars and that the subsequent distinction between authors and plagiarists depended more upon the maturity of the writer than has been previously recognized. Accusations of plagiarism were a means of discrediting a rival, although in this capacity their import also depended largely upon one’s perspective. In the absence of established trade customs, writers had to subscribe to the proprieties of the institutions with which they were affiliated. They were deemed plagiarists only when their actions were found to be out of place. These proprieties not only informed early modern definitions of plagiarism; they also helped define the perimeters of proprietary authorship. Authors who wished to make a fair profit from labours in print had to conform to the regulations of the Stationer’s Company, just as authors who maintained a proprietary interest in their manuscripts had to draw upon legal rhetoric, such as plagiary, in the absence of a legally recognized notion of authorial property. With new information technologies expanding the boundaries of proprietary authorship everyday, the proprieties according to which these boundaries were first defined should help teachers and researchers not only better to understand the nature of Renaissance authorship but also to equip their students for the future.

Information and communication technologies and their innovative apparatuses have extensive social consequences. The basic interest of this thesis is to argue whether the information technologies and their technological apparatuses have the power to breach in the current capitalist system and therefore to lead us into a transformation towards an alternative world. In fact, this study more specifically attempts to argue and make sense out of this argument on the basis of an analysis of the Free Software Movement (FSM), since it is a product of the information technologies and has some suggestions for such a transformation towards a new society. Simultaneously, the study also argues the novel parts of the FSM as a new social movement and change agent of today&#039 / s contemporary world with reference to the literature on social movements.

台灣過去以製造業聞名全球，然而成本的降低終有其限度；隨著政府兩兆雙星方案的提出，將數位內容產業列為重點培育產業之一，也開啟了台灣往知識經濟前進的腳步。然而高風險的特性，也使得多數數位內容業者，在融資方面遭遇相當的困難。特別是過去以有形資產為擔保品的銀行融資方式，更使得數位內容業者較難展現自己的價值。本論文以此情境為出發點，並參考國外數位容產業個案，引發對於相關融資方式的討論。 本研究以數位內容產業可能之融資手段為出發點，參照國外個案，以美國著作權證券化與日本製作委員會之融資方式為討論標的。美國著作權證券化最成功的案例，非大衛包伊個案莫屬。個案資料之豐富於廣受討論之程度亦為此系列之最；而日本的動畫產業亦向來我亞洲之冠，近來更廣受歐美市場的青睞。本論文以此二個案為標的，分析個案所處之情境，以產品所處之不同發展階段與資本市場成熟度，深入了解其融資方式之選擇策略。並兼論採取此種融資方式，所可能遭遇之困難與挑戰。最後並探討台灣之產業經濟環境，提出可參考改進之建議與作法，作為台灣改進數位內容產業融資問題可能的方向。 關鍵字：數位內容、融資、智財證券化、管理委員會 / Taiwan has been famous for its manufacturing ability. However, there’s a limitation with cost down strategy. Taiwan government has brought out the “Two Trillions & Twin Stars Industries Development Plan” in order to promote the development of certain industries in Taiwan, and Digital Content Industry is listed among one of them. The development of Digital Content Industry has presented the progress toward knowledge based economics of Taiwan. However, the high risk characters have resulted in the difficulty of finance for digital content business. Especially collateral requirement is making digital content players even harder to show their value. This research is based on this situation to discuss related financing methods and refers to some cases. This research is based on the possible financing methods for digital content industry, and using copyright securitization in America and Cinema Production Committee in Japan. The most famous copyright securitization case in America is David Bowie securitization, and the related comment and information is also richest. The Japan animation industry is always the best of Asia, and is popular in Europe and America recently. This research is focus on the two topics to analyze cases. The research uses the different product development stage along with maturity degree of capital market to analyze the selection of financing methods. Also, the possible difficulties and challenges are discussed. The research also talks about the digital content industry and economic environment in Taiwan, and make possible suggestions to improve the progress of digital content development in Taiwan.

Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2006 S. 5-11: introduction and summary, s. 15-99: 3 papers

This thesis explores how massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), as an exemplary new media form, disrupt practices associated with more conventional media. These intensely social games exploit the interactivity and networks afforded by new media technologies in ways that generate new challenges for the organisation, control and regulation of media. The involvement of players in constituting these games - through their production of game-play, derivative works and strong social networks that drive the profitability of the games - disrupts some of the key foundations that underlie other publication media. MMOGs represent a new and hybrid form of media - part publication and part service. As such they sit within a number of sometimes contradictory organising and regulatory regimes. This thesis examines the negotiations and struggles for control between players, developers and publishers as issues of ownership, governance and access arise out of the new configurations. Using an ethnographic approach to gather information and insights into the practices of players, developers and publishers, this project identifies the characteristics of the distributed production network in this experiential medium. It explores structural components of successful interactive applications and analyses how the advent of player agency and the shift in authorship has meant a shift in control of the text and the relations that surround it. The integration of social networks into the textual environment, and into the business model of the media publishers has meant commerce has become entwined with affect in a new way in this medium. Publishers have moved into the role of both property managers, of the intellectual property associated with the game content, and community managers. Intellectual property management is usually associated with the reproduction and distribution of finished media products, and this sits uneasily with the performative and mutable form of this medium. Service provision consists of maintaining the game world environment, community management, providing access for players to other players and to the content generated both by the developers and the other players. Content in an MMOG is identified in this project as both the 'tangible' assets of code and artwork, rules and text, and the 'intangible' or immaterial assets of affective networks. Players are no longer just consumers of media, or even just active interpreters of media. They are co-producing the media as it is developed. This thesis frames that productiveness as unpaid labour, in an attempt to denaturalise the dominant discourse which casts players as consumers. The regulation of this medium is contentious. Conventional forms of media regulation - such as copyright, or content regulation regimes are inadequate for regulating the hybrid service/publication medium. This thesis explores how the use of contracts as the mechanism which constitutes the formal relations between players, publishers and developers creates challenges to some of the regimes of juridical and political rights held by citizens more generally. This thesis examines the productive practices of players and how the discourses of intellectual property and the discourses of the consumer are mobilised to erase the significance of those productive contributions. It also shows, using a Foucauldian analysis of the power negotiations, that players employ many counter-strategies to circumvent the more formal legal structures of the publishers. The dialogic relationship between players, developers and publishers is shown to mobilise various discursive constructions of the role of each. The outcome of these ongoing negotiations may well shape future interactive applications and the extent to which their innovative capacities will be available for all stakeholders to develop.

The major problems associated with trade secret law in New Zealand are that it is confused in definition and in jurisdiction. This confusion contributes to the failure of trade secret law in some instances, particularly to protect information created in the emerging biotechnology and computer software industries. This has contributed to alternative forms of protection, notably through copyright for computer programs. From a review of the current law, categories of trade secrets are identified, including sub-patentable and patentable trade secrets. The jurisdictional dispute may be resolved if it is recognised that trade secrets represent a form of property right. To this end, the legal and economic approaches to property rights are synthesised. This synthesis is then extended to create a legal-economic model of the justifications for, and the problems with, the protection of these rights: the intellectual property rights continuum. From this model, it is concluded that some legal protection of trade secrets is justified, provided that equally harmful effects are not created. In particular, sub-patentable trade secrets may warrant greater protection, and patentable trade secrets may be over-protected. One proposal is to punish industrial espionage, although some harmful effects may result. Utility models and laws that protect trade secrets in general are considered and rejected as solutions. Instead, patents of improvement (PI) are proposed which would protect trade secrets that represent an advance on an existing patent. PI would represent a lower standard of inventiveness that is adopted from American biotechnology patent disputes, and so protect sub-patentable trade secrets. The other, higher threshold from the existing English patent law would remain as the patent standard. If a PI were granted to a patent owner, then s/he could practise price discrimination, but if granted to a rival, then competition could result. Either outcome could protect trade secrets, yet mitigate the harmful effects of legal protection. If these proposals were adopted, more information could be produced as well as utilised. Moreover, the growth of the biotechnology and computer software industries in New Zealand could be furthered.

Το υπάρχον σύστημα κατοχύρωσης της Πνευματικής Ιδιοκτησίας και ιδιαίτερα της Βιομηχανικής Ιδιοκτησίας μέσω των Διπλωμάτων Ευρεσιτεχνίας δημιουργήθηκε με σκοπό να να προάγει την έρευνα και την επιστήμη. Η πολιτεία χορηγεί το μονοπωλιακό δικαίωμα στην χρήση και εκμετάλλευση μιας εφέυρεσης με αντάλλαγμα την δημόσια αποκάλυψη της ευρεσιτεχνίας από τον εφευρέτη. Οι υπόλοιποι ερευνητές πλέον μπορούν να χρησιμοποι-ήσουν ελεύθερα αυτή την (δημοσιευμένη) γνώση στην έρευνά τους ενώ οι επιχειρήσεις μπορούν καταβάλλοντας κάποιο τίμημα στον εφευρέτη να την χρησιμοποιήσουν για εμπο-ρικούς σκοπούς. Συνεπώς, με βάση τα παραπάνω, το σκεπτικό πίσω από την χορήγηση διπλωμάτων ευρεσιτεχνίας είναι η αύξηση των επενδύσεων σε έρευνα και καινοτομικότητα με ταυτόχ-ρονη διάχυση των αποτελεσμάτων μέσω της χορήγησης ενός προσωρινού μονοπωλίου. Όμως καθώς πλέον η χρήση των διπλωμάτων ευρεσιτεχνίας αυξάνεται διαρκώς και η χρήση τους γενικεύεται σε ζώντες οργανισμούς, φυτά, προγράμματα υπολογιστών προ-κύπτουν ερωτήματα σχετικά με την ανάγκη αναθεώρησης του υπάρχοντος σύστηματος Προστασίας της Διανοητικής Ιδιοκτησίας και της διαδικασίας εξέτασης και χορήγησης ευ-ρεσιτεχνιών. Επίσης εξετάζεται η χρήση τεχνικών εξόρυξης γνώσης από ΔΕ και οι δυνατότητες που οι τεχνικές αυτές μπορούν να προσφέρουν. / The existing system of Intellectual Property rights is analysed, and more specifically the patent system. Patents grant a monopoly right for a specific amount of time to the applicant in exchange of full disclosure. The existing patent system is examined along with controversial issues and grants and a text mining method for information extraction is tested.