MPI Studies on Intellectual Property and Competition Law – serie

This book contains the proceedings of the conference “Comparative Data Law”, which was held in Munich in December 2023. The increasing relevance of data is now recognized all over the world. The large number of regulatory acts and proposals in the field of data law serves as a testament to the significance of data processing for the economies of the world. The European Union’s Data Strategy, the African Union’s Data Policy Framework and the Australian Data Strategy only serve as examples within a plethora of regulatory actions. Yet, the purposeful and sensible use of data does not only play a role in economic terms, e.g. regarding the welfare or competitiveness of economies. The implications for society and the common good are at least equally relevant. For instance, data processing is an integral part of modern research methodology and can thus help to address the problems the world is facing today, such as climate change.The conference was the third and final event of the Global Data Law Conference Series. Legal scholars from all over the world met, presented and exchanged their experiences on different data-related regulatory approaches. Various instruments and approaches to the regulation of data – personal or non-personal – were discussed, without losing sight of the global effects going hand-in-hand with different kinds of regulation.In compiling the conference proceedings, this book does not only aim at providing a critical and analytical assessment of the status quo of data law in different countries today, it also aims at providing a forward-looking perspective on the pressing issues of our time, such as: How to promote sensible data sharing and purposeful data governance? Under which circumstances, if ever, do data localisation requirements make sense? How – and by whom – should international regulation be put in place? The proceedings engage in a discussion on future-oriented ideas and actions, thereby promoting a constructive and sensible approach to data law around the world.

Die „Durchsetzung" hat sich im Recht des geistigen Eigentums zu einem ebenso zentralen wie vielschichtigen Begriff entwickelt. Der Sammelband beleuchtet die unterschiedlichen Aspekte des Begriffs, analysiert Entwicklungstendenzen, diskutiert gelöste und ungelöste Fragen des geltenden Rechts und zeigt rechtspolitische Perspektiven auf.

As part of its review of competition law that started in the late 1990s, the European Commission proposes to revise its interpretation and application of the Treaty’s prohibition of abuses of dominant positions. Also, it has instigated a debate about the promotion of private enforcement of EC competition law. On the former subject, the Commission published a Discussion Paper in 2005; on the latter, a Green Paper in 2005, followed by a White Paper in 2008. The chapters in this volume critically appraise the Commission’s proposals, including the most recent ones. The authors also highlight the repercussions of the proposed ‘more economic approach’ to abuses of dominant positions on private litigants’ opportunities to bring damages actions in national courts for such abuses.

Unfair competition law is concerned with fair play in commerce. It is generally regarded as necessary – together with antitrust law – in order to steer competition along an orderly course, and thereby to contribute to promoting an efficient market system that serves the interests of all participants. Nevertheless the significance of unfair competition law varies from one country to another. Whereas in some countries, such as Germany, it is seen as one of the most effective commercial laws, in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, it leads rather a shadowy existence. From the outset, this discrepancy laid in the differences in national legal s- tems. Whilst those continental European countries that possessed a written civil law when instances of unfair competition emerged, more or less successfully attempted to incorporate them in the existing tort law system, protection in the common law countries was restricted to some narrowly defined torts, in particular “passing off”. At this stage one of the few shared convictions was, that the protection of “honest entrepreneurs” was at issue; on this basis, in 1900, the only regulation at the int- bis national level until now was enacted, Art. 10 of the Paris Convention.

Die Harmonisierung des Urheberrechts in Europa wird auch in den kommenden Jahren eine Herausforderung bleiben.

The interaction of taxation and corporate governance is a classical topic and a sta- up theme at the same time. Much has been written in the past on the influence of the tax framework on the choice of legal form for businesses and the structuring of c- pany groups and their contractual obligations. But in recent years, many other features of this relationship between two different fields of law have emerged. First of all, tax authorities around the world have become aware of the potential influence of corporate governance rules on the tax strategy of an enterprise. “Tax in the Boa- room” is a keyword for a movement which tries to employ company law and se- rities law as a tool for governments to fight corporate tax avoidance. The concept of corporate social responsibility and its repercussions in the tax arena, the allocation of tax competences within a company, the requirement to disclose relevant tax inf- mation to investors or the necessity to establish a management system for tax risks have given rise to an emerging strand of literature both from an economic and a legal background. This situation has led the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Com- tition and Tax Law (Department of Accounting and Taxation) in Munich to organize a conference on this topic – jointly with the International Network for Tax Research and the International Fiscal Association (German Branch) – in December 2006.

Das Werk widmet sich einem zunehmend fühlbaren Konflikt unseres Unternehmensrechts. Einerseits werden Unternehmen auf der Grundlage europäischen und deutschen Rechts steigenden Publizitätspflichten unterworfen. In der Praxis werden diese Unternehmensdaten andererseits vielfach von Konkurrenten, Zulieferern oder Abnehmern genutzt, um ihre eigene Wettbewerbssituation gegenüber dem offen legenden Unternehmen zu verbessern. Das Buch analysiert die zivilrechtlichen, kartellrechtlichen, verfassungsrechtlichen und europarechtlichen Grundlagen, beschreibt die handels- und gesellschaftsrechtlichen Regelungen und schlägt vor dem Hintergrund einer ökonomischen Analyse von Offenlegungspflichten neue Regelungen vor, z. B. die weitgehende Zurückführung der Publizitätspflicht von nicht-börsennotierten Unternehmen sowie die Nutzung von Schutzklauseln bei börsennotierten Unternehmen.

Die EU-Mitgliedstaaten haben sich das Ziel gesetzt, die Aufwendungen für Forschung und Entwicklung (FuE) bis zum Jahr 2010 auf 3% des Bruttoinlandsprodukts (BIP) anzuheben. Deutschland liegt mit einem Anteil der FuE-Aufwendungen von 2,54% des BIP unter der geforderten 3%-Marke. Zur Erreichung des Lissabon-Ziels führt die EU-Kommission eine steuerliche Breitenförderung von FuE als wichtige Maßnahme an. In Deutschland existieren im Gegensatz zur Mehrzahl der EU-Mitgliedstaaten sowie zu bedeutsamen Drittstaaten keine speziellen steuerlichen Maßnahmen zur FuE-Förderung. Die Arbeitsgruppe "Steuerliche FuE-Förderung" der Forschungsunion Wirtschaft - Wissenschaft prüft in diesem Bericht, ob, inwieweit und mittels welcher Instrumente auch in Deutschland eine direkte steuerliche FuE-Förderung in Erwägung gezogen werden kann. Als Ergebnis werden konkrete Vorschläge zur Ausgestaltung einer steuerlichen FuE-Förderung in Deutschland entwickelt.

Introduction Intellectual property rights foster innovation. But if, as it surely does, “intellectual property” means not just intellectual property rules—the law of patents, copyrights, trademarks, designs, trade secrets, and unfair competition—but also intellectual property institutions—the courts, police, regulatory agencies, and collecting soc- ties that administer these rules—what are the respective roles of intellectual property rules and institutions in fostering creativity? And, to what extent do forces outside intellectual property rules and institutions—economics, culture, politics, history—also contribute to innovation? Is it possible that these other factors so overwhelm the impact of intellectual property regimes that it is futile to expect adjustments in intellectual property rules and institutions to alter patterns of inno- tion and, ultimately, economic development? It was to address these questions in the most dynamic region of the world today, Asia, that we invited leading country experts to contribute studies that not only summarize the current condition of intellectual property regimes in countries ranging in economic size from Cambodia to Japan, and in population from Laos to China, but that also describe the historical sources of these laws and institutions; the realities of intellectual property enforcement in the marketplace; and the political, economic, educational, and scientific infrastructures that sustain and direct inve- ment in innovative activity. A.

Preface International conferences are not organized overnight—especially not when high ranking personalities from politics, business and academia should be offered an adequate platform for addressing and discussing highly relevant contemporary issues. The conference on “The Role of Law and Ethics in the Globalized Economy,” which took place on May 22 and 23, 2008 in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Munich, was no exception. When the first preparations started at the end of 2006, neither the subprime crises nor the general crises of the global financial system, whose shock waves have rocked the financial businesses in subsequent months, were known; nor were they predictable or even imaginable. Based on our monitoring of the globalization process and its apparent impact—not only on the economic and technological environment, but also on the social en- ronment—it was appropriate for the conference to begin by serving as a platform for analysing the status quo of the process of globalization, as relevant to politics, business and academia, and for exploring how the interest groups in those domains cope with the challenges of globalization. In the end, however, the purpose of the conference was to produce proposals for conditions for “upwards” global compe- tion, meaning that minimum conditions should be worked out to enable people to live and labour humanely. Such conditions would be those which should help avoid otherwise inevitable frictions in society, both nationally and internationally.

Das Buch gibt einen Überblick über die Zukunftsfragen des deutschen Steuerrechts und mögliche Entwicklungslinien. Im Einzelnen werden die Zukunft des deutschen Steuerverfahrens, die Wirkung von EG-Grundrechten, Möglichkeiten zur Missbrauchsbekämpfung, Steuerwettbewerbsfragen sowie weitere verfassungs- und europarechtliche Fragen behandelt. Gegenstand ist stets die zukünftige Entwicklung sowie der Gestaltungsspielraum des deutschen Gesetzgebers mit Beispielen aus dem Umsatzsteuerrecht, Erbrecht, Verlustberücksichtigung und Sonderregelungen wie der Zinsschranke.

Das Buch gibt einen Überblick über die aktuellen zivil- und steuerrechtlichen Probleme der Unternehmensnachfolge und mögliche Entwicklungslinien. Im Einzelnen werden das steuerliche Schicksal von Verlusten in der Unternehmensnachfolge (§ 10d EStG; § 8c KStG), neue Herausforderungen für die Unternehmensbewertung im Rahmen der neuen Erbschaftsteuer, die Pflichtteilsproblematik bei der Unternehmensnachfolge sowie Fragen der grenzüberschreitenden Verschmelzung und Exit Taxes behandelt.

Regenerative Medizin setzt große Hoffnungen in die Forschung mit humanen embryonalen Stammzellen. Ebenso umstritten wie diese Forschung selbst ist auch die Patentierung von Erfindungen, die sich auf humane embryonale pluripotente Stammzellen beziehen. Sowohl im regulatorischen Bereich wie auch im Bereich der Patentierung gibt es international große Unterschiede. Die Beiträge legen dar und analysieren die aus rechtlicher wie ethischer Sicht komplizierte Rechtslage der Patentierung in diesem Bereich nach dem europäischen Patent-recht und den Patentrechten der VR China, Deutschlands, Frankreichs, Japans, Kanadas, Koreas, Österreichs, der Schweiz, der USA und des Vereinigten Königreiches. Jedem an dieser Materie Interessierten bieten sie eine wertvolle Orientierungshilfe.

Das Recht zur Bekämpfung unlauteren Wettbewerbs stellt in Ländern wie Deutschland, Österreich, Schweden und Belgien ein wichtiges eigenes Rechtsgebiet dar. Aus dem genuin nationalen Recht ist jedoch im Laufe der Zeit zunehmend europäisches Recht geworden. Andererseits ist es auf Gemeinschaftsebene bisher nicht gelungen, ein einheitliches europäisches Lauterkeitsrecht zu schaffen. Die europäischen Vorgaben erschöpfen sich vielmehr in einer Vielzahl von Richtlinien und Verordnungen zu jeweils einzelnen Problemkreisen. Da sich diese Regelungswerke zunehmend überlappen und unterschiedlichen Zielsetzungen folgen, droht eine empfindliche Störung der nationalen Lauterkeitsrechte. Die Autoren dieses Buches, ausgewiesene Fachleute des Europa-, Wirtschafts- und IP-Rechts, zeigen die Gründe für die bisherige Entwicklung auf und beleuchten spezielle Fragen in rechtlicher und wirtschaftlicher Hinsicht. Eine systematische und kohärente Ausrichtung des europäischen Lauterkeitsrechts für die Zukunft ist das Ziel der Diskussion.

As part of its review of competition law that started in the late 1990s, the European Commission proposes to revise its interpretation and application of the Treaty’s prohibition of abuses of dominant positions. Also, it has instigated a debate about the promotion of private enforcement of EC competition law. On the former subject, the Commission published a Discussion Paper in 2005; on the latter, a Green Paper in 2005, followed by a White Paper in 2008. The chapters in this volume critically appraise the Commission’s proposals, including the most recent ones. The authors also highlight the repercussions of the proposed ‘more economic approach’ to abuses of dominant positions on private litigants’ opportunities to bring damages actions in national courts for such abuses.

Unfair competition law is concerned with fair play in commerce. It is generally regarded as necessary – together with antitrust law – in order to steer competition along an orderly course, and thereby to contribute to promoting an efficient market system that serves the interests of all participants. Nevertheless the significance of unfair competition law varies from one country to another. Whereas in some countries, such as Germany, it is seen as one of the most effective commercial laws, in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, it leads rather a shadowy existence. From the outset, this discrepancy laid in the differences in national legal s- tems. Whilst those continental European countries that possessed a written civil law when instances of unfair competition emerged, more or less successfully attempted to incorporate them in the existing tort law system, protection in the common law countries was restricted to some narrowly defined torts, in particular “passing off”. At this stage one of the few shared convictions was, that the protection of “honest entrepreneurs” was at issue; on this basis, in 1900, the only regulation at the int- bis national level until now was enacted, Art. 10 of the Paris Convention.

The interaction of taxation and corporate governance is a classical topic and a sta- up theme at the same time. Much has been written in the past on the influence of the tax framework on the choice of legal form for businesses and the structuring of c- pany groups and their contractual obligations. But in recent years, many other features of this relationship between two different fields of law have emerged. First of all, tax authorities around the world have become aware of the potential influence of corporate governance rules on the tax strategy of an enterprise. “Tax in the Boa- room” is a keyword for a movement which tries to employ company law and se- rities law as a tool for governments to fight corporate tax avoidance. The concept of corporate social responsibility and its repercussions in the tax arena, the allocation of tax competences within a company, the requirement to disclose relevant tax inf- mation to investors or the necessity to establish a management system for tax risks have given rise to an emerging strand of literature both from an economic and a legal background. This situation has led the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Com- tition and Tax Law (Department of Accounting and Taxation) in Munich to organize a conference on this topic – jointly with the International Network for Tax Research and the International Fiscal Association (German Branch) – in December 2006.

Introduction Intellectual property rights foster innovation. But if, as it surely does, “intellectual property” means not just intellectual property rules—the law of patents, copyrights, trademarks, designs, trade secrets, and unfair competition—but also intellectual property institutions—the courts, police, regulatory agencies, and collecting soc- ties that administer these rules—what are the respective roles of intellectual property rules and institutions in fostering creativity? And, to what extent do forces outside intellectual property rules and institutions—economics, culture, politics, history—also contribute to innovation? Is it possible that these other factors so overwhelm the impact of intellectual property regimes that it is futile to expect adjustments in intellectual property rules and institutions to alter patterns of inno- tion and, ultimately, economic development? It was to address these questions in the most dynamic region of the world today, Asia, that we invited leading country experts to contribute studies that not only summarize the current condition of intellectual property regimes in countries ranging in economic size from Cambodia to Japan, and in population from Laos to China, but that also describe the historical sources of these laws and institutions; the realities of intellectual property enforcement in the marketplace; and the political, economic, educational, and scientific infrastructures that sustain and direct inve- ment in innovative activity. A.

Preface International conferences are not organized overnight—especially not when high ranking personalities from politics, business and academia should be offered an adequate platform for addressing and discussing highly relevant contemporary issues. The conference on “The Role of Law and Ethics in the Globalized Economy,” which took place on May 22 and 23, 2008 in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Munich, was no exception. When the first preparations started at the end of 2006, neither the subprime crises nor the general crises of the global financial system, whose shock waves have rocked the financial businesses in subsequent months, were known; nor were they predictable or even imaginable. Based on our monitoring of the globalization process and its apparent impact—not only on the economic and technological environment, but also on the social en- ronment—it was appropriate for the conference to begin by serving as a platform for analysing the status quo of the process of globalization, as relevant to politics, business and academia, and for exploring how the interest groups in those domains cope with the challenges of globalization. In the end, however, the purpose of the conference was to produce proposals for conditions for “upwards” global compe- tion, meaning that minimum conditions should be worked out to enable people to live and labour humanely. Such conditions would be those which should help avoid otherwise inevitable frictions in society, both nationally and internationally.

Das Phänomen der nutzergenerierten Inhalte, erlangt immer stärkere Bedeutung und stellt das Recht täglich vor neue Herausforderungen. Es umfasst nicht nur Blogs, Wikis und Videoportale wie YouTube und MyVideo, sondern auch soziale Netzwerke wie MySpace sowie andere Plattformen, in denen Nutzer interagieren und/oder kollektiv Inhalte schaffen und somit zunehmend die Rolle des passiven Rezipienten verlassen und zum Produzenten ihrer eigenen Beiträge werden. Der „Prosument“ hat also die Bühne betreten und er hat eine Menge juristischer Probleme und Fragen in seinem Gepäck, denn das veränderte Nutzerverhalten und die neuartigen Rahmenbedingungen bei der Produktion von Medieninhalten birgt nicht nur aus urheberrechtlicher sondern auch aus kollisionsrechtlicher und haftungsrechtlicher Sicht eine Vielzahl von Fragen, welchen die Autoren dieses Bandes nachgehen und welche sie zu lösen versuchen.

Die inneren Konflikte der Ertragsbesteuerung finden im Unternehmenssteuerrecht ihren deutlichsten Ausdruck: das Spannungsverhältnis zwischen dem subjektiven Einkommen des Individuums und der objektiven Ertragskraft des Betriebes, der Widerspruch zwischen der zivilrechtlichen Trennung von Rechtssphären und der wirtschaftlichen Realität der Konzerne, die Bruchstellen im traditionellen Gefüge der Einkunftsarten. Im Jahre 2009 haben führende Vertreter der deutschen Steuerwissenschaft auf Einladung des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geistiges Eigentum, Wettbewerbs- und Steuerrecht in einer Vortragsreihe grundlegende Themen des Unternehmenssteuerrechts präsentiert; ihre Beiträge sind in diesem Band zusammenfasst. Sie behandeln sowohl Fragen der Rechtsformneutralität, der Ausgestaltung der Konzernbesteuerung und der unterschiedlichen Besteuerung von Kapital und Arbeit als auch die Kompatibilität der gegenwärtigen Unternehmensbesteuerung mit Grundprinzipien der Steuerordnung und ihre internationale Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.

Warum und unter welchen Voraussetzungen soll die Rechtsordnung technischen und kreativen Leistungen Schutz gewähren? Wie wirken sich rechtliche Schutzinstrumente auf den Zugang zu Wissen als grundlegender Triebkraft von Innovation, Kreativität und technischem Fortschritt aus? Die Antworten auf diese Fragen nach dem Zweck und den Wirkungen des Schutzes von Immaterialgütern überspannen zunächst sämtliche Disziplinen der Rechtswissenschaft, denn nur im Gesamtgefüge der Rechtsordnung lässt sich die Funktion des Immaterialgüterrechts als Spezial- und Rahmengebiet der marktwirtschaftlichen Ordnung zuverlässig erfassen. Das Streben nach möglichst hoher Zuverlässigkeit der hier gesuchten Antworten fordert die Rechtswissenschaft aber vor allem auch zum Diskurs mit anderen Disziplinen auf bzw. heraus, etwa mit den Wirtschafts- und den Sozialwissenschaften. Nur im Dialog der Disziplinen lässt sich die gesellschaftspolitische Funktion des Immaterialgüterrechts ermitteln. Der vorliegende Band wirft aktuelle Schlaglichter auf einzelne Aspekte dieser diskursiven, interdisziplinären Suche nach Antworten.

How does copyright law take into account the interests of third parties, especially the general public’s interest in the greatest possible dissemination of knowledge and culture? Twelve basic questions give copyright law experts from more than forty countries the opportunity to provide answers related to their national law on the following matters: categories of works and subject matter, eligibility conditions, duration, “users’ rights,” the three-step test, misuse, differentiations between categories of right holders, TPM, and relations of copyright law to other legal areas such as fundamental rights, competition law, consumer protection law, media law etc. The standardized form of the reports makes it easy to see the impacts of copyright law in the industrialized countries as well as in emerging economies; in common-law and civil-law approaches; in countries of the Andean Community and of the European Union, as well as in countries that are not party to the WIPO Treaties. A detailed preliminary chapter provides an approachable overview of issues and results. This chapter also discusses the voice of academia, represented by the European Copyright Code of the “Wittem Group.”

This book is highly topical. The shift from the multilateral WTO negotiations to bilateral and regional Free Trade Agreements has been going on for some time, but it is bound to accelerate after the WTO Doha round of negotiations is now widely regarded as a failure. However, there is a particular regional angle to this topic as well. After concluding that further progress in the Doha round was unlikely, Pacific Rim nations recently have progressed with the negotiations of a greatly expanded Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement that includes industrialised economies and developed countries such as the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, recently emerged economies such as Singapore, but also several developing countries in Asia and Latin America such as Malaysia and Vietnam. US and EU led efforts to conclude FTAs with Asia-Pacific nations are also bound to accelerate again, after a temporary slowdown in the negotiations following the change of government in the United Statesand the expiry of the US President’s fast-track negotiation authority. The book will provide an assessment of these dynamics in the world’s fastest growing region. It will look at the IP chapters from a legal perspective, but also put the developments into a socio-economic and political context. Many agreements in fact are concluded because of this context rather than for purely economic reasons or to achieve progress in fields like IP law. The structure of the book follows an outline that groups countries into interest alliances according to their respective IP priorities. This ranges from the driving forces of the EU, US and Japan, via Asia-Pacific resource-rich but IP poor economies such as Australia and New Zealand, recently emerged economies with strong IP systems such as Singapore and Korea to leading developing countries such as China and India and ‘second tier industrializing economies’ such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

​FairEconomy is a concept for a free and fair market economy. In response to the financial and economic crises of the past years, the authors develop fundamental ideas of how a market economy works, what rules markets need and who safeguards fairness and equal opportunity in such an economy. The book sets out the design of a sustainable market order: Going back to the very roots of doing business it offers a fascinating insight into the cultural and anthropological premises of the market economy. Fairness and free competition can be identified as key elements of successful markets, sometimes neglected in politics and business. Legal rules need to ensure that fairness and economic freedom work. The same holds true for the relationship of risk and liability that has been overlooked in the banking sector. The ideas of a FairEconomy, sketched in this book, are fit to become a reality: The authors point to institutions and mechanisms that could integrate the concept into global law. They place their trust less upon ever-larger institutions and more on private entitlement and enforcement at the global, regional, and local levels.   ​

​​​​ ​This book focuses on a new generation of bilateral and regional agreements negotiated by the EU with developing countries and which include intellectual property (IP) provisions setting standards exceeding those of the TRIPS Agreement. The contributions critically analyse the IP standards found in these agreements; their potential for reforming the international IP system; the implications for the multilateral IP system and other areas of international law such as human rights; and the often neglected topic of implementing the IP obligations in these agreements.​

​FairEconomy is a concept for a free and fair market economy. In response to the financial and economic crises of the past years, the authors develop fundamental ideas of how a market economy works, what rules markets need and who safeguards fairness and equal opportunity in such an economy. The book sets out the design of a sustainable market order: Going back to the very roots of doing business it offers a fascinating insight into the cultural and anthropological premises of the market economy. Fairness and free competition can be identified as key elements of successful markets, sometimes neglected in politics and business. Legal rules need to ensure that fairness and economic freedom work. The same holds true for the relationship of risk and liability that has been overlooked in the banking sector. The ideas of a FairEconomy, sketched in this book, are fit to become a reality: The authors point to institutions and mechanisms that could integrate the concept into global law. They place their trust less upon ever-larger institutions and more on private entitlement and enforcement at the global, regional, and local levels.   ​

Sie diskutieren auf der Grundlage rechtstatsächlicher Erkenntnisse alle mit der wettbewerbsrechtlichen Beurteilung von CSR zusammenhängenden Fragen, insbesondere unter Berücksichtigung der Rolle, die CSR für Unternehmen, Abnehmer und die Gesamtwirtschaft spielt.Auch die Vorstellungen anderer Rechtsordnungen und Kulturkreise sind einbezogen.

Under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law (now the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition). And Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica, a group of twenty scholars from around the world gathered to study the experiences made with regards to compulsory licensing. The results are demonstrated in this book. Different articles analyze how the international conventions on intellectual property may be interpreted and explore the related doctrinal groundwork surrounding compulsory patent licensing and beyond. It is shown how the compulsory licensing regime could be transformed into a truly workable mechanism facilitating the speedy use and dissemination of innovation and other subject matters of protection.