Book review: Accords de technologie / Technology Transactions

Accords de technologie / Technology Transactions is a bilingual (French and English) collection of papers, edited by Prof. Jacques de Werra - Law School of the University of Geneva, covering a wide range of issues concerning technology transactions. This publication is number 11 in the series of volumes "p®opriété intelle©tuelle - intelle©tual p®operty" also edited by the University of Geneva. The full list of publications in this series can be found here.

In the words of the Editor, despite of the high amount of technology transactions done in practice, these type of transactions still raise a number of legal questions, at national and international level. This is due to multiple reasons, partly to the fact that technology transactions are at the intersection between different domains of the law (contract law, intellectual property law and competition law). The nature of the subject, technology, so fluid and in constant evolution, gives a special dynamic to the related transactions.

Furthermore, technology transactions are not harmonised at global level.

The aim of this publication is to offer a detailed, but not exhaustive, analysis of the questions arising from these type of agreements (including from the point of view of the regulatory policy  and/or the technology transaction practice).

The book contains the following papers:

Patent Transactions. Limited regulation in the multilateral legal framework and diverse legislation and practice at the country level by Marco M. Aleman.  Marco Aleman's paper details the various types of technology transaction agreements (research; joint development; supply arrangements; licensing; assignment; securities) and the related intellectual property-related issues. The papers delves into the differences in the setup, formalities, enforcement requirements of the transaction agreements across various jurisdictions. Given the number of cross-border transactions understanding the variations in the legal systems can be crucial for the legal effects of the transaction. The author raises the question whether a set of international rules could be beneficial to better ensure legal certainty.

International Technology Transactions from a Development Perspective  by Christoph Spennemann.  Technology transactions play an enormous role in sharing technology throughout the world. This paper focuses specifically on developing countries and portrays some practical cases of technology transactions in the pharmaceutical industry (ELEA in Argentina; Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd in Bangladesh; Technoquimicas in Colombia;  SEAA  in Ethiopia; and Quality Chemicals in Uganda) to analyse the lessons and limitations of the licensing approach. The paper also discusses the international approaches regulating technology (UNCTAD and WTO) and the importance of creating technology capacity in developing countries.

International IP transactions: arguments for developing a UN standard by Mark Anderson.  The author starts with the statement that, historically, international IP transactions have received little attention at both national and international level. Starting from the example of patents, he argues that, given that IP transactions are mostly international and at the center of international commerce, national IP laws are inconsistent and incoherent, opening up to uncertainty in interpretation. This results in unclear obligations for the parties and risks expensive litigation. Would the establishment of a set of international laws to govern the interpretation of and enforcement of IP agreements be beneficial?

 IT Agreements - from software to cloud services by Philippe Gilliéron.  Based on the author's own experience in the negotiation of IT agreements, the paper details the types of IT agreements (proof of concept; software; cloud based; professional services; digital), their structure and salient features. The author points out that, given their intrinsic complexities, IT agreements can be challenging to be fully understood by lawyers or in-house counsels in their technicalities and effects thus resulting in an underestimation of the potential risks involved.

Accords de techonologie et droit de la concurrence: de l'approche plus économique à la saisie par l'abus de position dominante [Technology transactions and competition law: from the economic approach to their capture by abuse of dominant position] by Adrien Alberini.  In the last paper of this publication, written in French, the author analyses the relationship between intellectual property and competition law, two fields apparently poles apart which in the end are in pursuit of the same objective: maintain a fair market for innovation. The paper first gives an overview of the European legislative framework on technology transactions, with a view to competition law. The paper further discusses intra-technological restrictions (price, quantity and territory) clauses in technology transactions; and the different types and characteristics restrictions to innovation clauses (mostly affecting R&D). The paper concludes with the most recent developments affecting technological transactions (i.e., Microsoft, Huawei v ZTE and United Planet/Huawei) and whether the notion of abuse of dominant position can still capture those type of agreements.

What the publisher says

This book is the eleventh volume in the series p®opriété intelle©tuelle - intelle©tual p®operty (www.pi-ip.ch), which is edited at the Law School of the University of Geneva (by Prof: Jacques de Werra). It collects the papers which have been written for the intellectual property law conference  ("Journée de Droit de Propriété Intellectuelle" www.jdpi.ch) organized on February 8, 2018, at the University of Geneva on the topic "Accords de technologie / Technology transactions". 

The coverage of different types of technology transactions analysed from different perspectives makes this book extremely useful for practitioners in this field. It will also be of interest for those studying or researching in IP and for those providing IP-related intermediary services. 

Info: 
ISBN: 978-3-7255-8706-3
Jacques de Werra (Editor)
Published by : Schulthess Verlag

Authors: Marco M. Aleman; Christoph Spennemann; Philippe Gilliéron; Adrien Alberini

Released: 2018
Format: Paperback

Price: CHF 49.00

Pages: 107

Available from Schulthess Verlag