Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

An interview on the EU's planned Digital Markets Act with competition law specialist Heiko Richter

Coronavirus vaccines are in short supply. India and South Africa have called for a relaxation of patent protection rules. Their proposal to temporarily suspend intellectual property (IP) rules related to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments is currently being discussed at the World Trade Organization. But is this proposal the right approach? In an interview, Reto Hilty, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, explains why he thinks laying hands on patent protection is dangerous.

Dietmar Harhoff is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition where he heads the Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research. As Chairman of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI), he also advises the German government on innovation issues. In the run-up to the CeBIT, taking place in Hanover from 14 to 18 March, we spoke with him about how future-proof German industry is in the digital age, the role of start-ups, and the latest buzzword, “Industry 4.0”.

Experts published a declaration according to 20 years TRIPS agreement

Digitization is transforming the economy, society, and every individual’s life. With it, the need is growing for clear legal framework conditions. These should leave sufficient freedom for the data economy, while preventing too much market power from being concentrated in a single place. Our authors examine the ways in which politics have approached these challenges in the recent past. They also warn against protectionist regulation and rushed decisions – not only in the digital sphere.

Artificial intelligence is gaining in importance and advancing rapidly – literally as well as figuratively: robotic nurses could soon be moving into our homes. However, their behavior is still open to negotiation. At the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich, Axel Walz is investigating how legal means can be employed to help ensure that artificial intelligence adheres to human values.

The German economy is booming, with research and development seeing welcome growth in recent years. However, our author, Chair of the German government’s Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI), warns that we shouldn’t content ourselves with our achievements to date. Germany still has some catching up to do, particularly when it comes to digital infrastructure and the internet offerings of German public authorities and ministries. But higher education institutions and young, innovative businesses need support from the new federal government, as well.

One of the biggest challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the provision of sufficient quantities of vaccine over months. While rich industrialised countries ordered huge quantities early on, poorer states suffered from a glaring shortage. Against this background, several of them have requested among other things the temporary suspension of patent rights at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Our team has analysed the legal situation.

Data access appears as a key condition for innovation and public welfare in the digital economy. Designing an adequate regulatory framework is at the centre of the current research of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, which analyses the respective issues from an interdisciplinary perspective of law and economics. Against this backdrop, the Institute developed the scientific concept of the conference "Consumer Law Days 2019" held by the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection.

How copyright-protected content is used on the Internet and, particularly, which conclusions should be drawn from users’ behavior has been the subject of intense debate for years. To what extent do Internet users download, stream or share content? What is the share of paid compared to free use? Do users consider their own conduct to be legal, and what are their motives for choosing potentially illegal forms of use? The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition examines these issues gathering data with a large-scale, representative quantitative survey of German consumers.

Every innovation starts with a secret. Every formula, technical improvement, or new algorithm is first protected by secrecy – firms are not compelled to disclose their knowledge. The current era of Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI) has seen a resurgent interest in trade secrets, particularly because a firm’s competitive advantage is increasingly based on data. Data as such, however, cannot be protected by patents or other intellectual property rights. But how and to what extent should trade secrets be protected by law, and how can this protection be regulated?

Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPC) prolong patent protection in the field of pharmacological and plant protection products. A study at the Max-Planck-Institute for Innovation and Competition examines the functioning of the system and proposes reforms. These proposals concern especially the elimination of uncertainties created by, among others, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the development of a union-wide system as well as the expansion of the existing exceptions and limitations.