Special questions of economic law

Teacher(s)

Strowel Alain; Strowel Alain (compensates Wauthy Xavier); Wauthy Xavier;

Language

French

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

Application of an interdisciplinary approach, law and economics, to the analysis of contemporary digital markets. The student will be asked to rely on the tools of intellectual property law and industrial organization in order to understand and explain how digitization transforms markets for information.

Content

The unifying theme of the course is the concept of “information good”. The course offers an analysis of digital markets for products (software, database,…) and services (social networks, digital platforms,…). It consists of three parts:
A: Introduction to Intellectual property from the point of view of Law and Economics
B: Protection of software through copyright and patents, open source models
C: Internet, social networks and collaborative platforms.

Teaching methods

Students are asked to read, prior to the sessions, the articles that are dedicated to the session (and mentioned as such in the reading list posted on the Moodle platform). For each session a group of students will be asked to i) prepare a synthesis of the readings, ii) initiate a reflection on the possible applications of the concepts and the key issues they raise, iii) organize a discussion with the rest of the group based on the theme of the session.

Evaluation methods

Evaluation is organized as follows
A: A written essay (individually, or jointly with a group of maximum 3 students). The essay must cover a specific question (that has to be approved by the teachers) with an interdisciplinary perspective that mixes law and economics. The size of the essay is between 5000 and 6000 words (multiplied by the number of students possibly belonging to the group). 80% of the grade
B: Students’ participation and in particular the quality of their presentation and preparation of the class session they are responsible for. 20% of the grade. Students may also opt for a written, closed books, exam.

Other information

Key principles of Intellectual property law and industrial organization are recalled in the first two sessions.

Bibliography

Pour les aspects juridiques, les ouvrages suivants peuvent être utilisés (en partie disponibles sur le site du cours):
- Propriété intellectuelle. Géopolitique et mondialisation, CNRS éd., 2013
- N. Binctin, Stratégie d’entreprise et propriété intellectuelle, LGDJ, 2015
- S. Dusollier et A. de Francquen, Manuel de droits intellectuels, Anthemis, 2015
En ce qui concerne les aspects économiques, plusieurs documents de référence sont proposés aux étudiants. Ces lectures fournissent un cadre auquel les étudiants doivent se référer dans leur travail :
- F. Lévêque & Y. Menière, Economie de la propriété intellectuelle, La Découverte, 2003 ; la version anglaise The Economics of Patent and Copyright est sur le site du cours.
- J. Tirole, Défaillances de marchés et politiques publiques, Conférence Nobel, 2014 (sur https://www.tsefr.eu/sites/default/files/TSE/documents/doc/by/tirole/nobel_lecture_fr_30_mars_2015_partenaires_idei.pdf )

Faculty or entity

DRTB