Links for 7/15/10

Jérôme Danguy and Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie

From a “European Union” perspective, the European patent system is highly fragmented. Indeed, it is actually a sum of 27 national patent systems – once a patent is granted it must be upheld, managed, and enforced at the country level. In case of litigation, it is frequent for applicants to be involved in several parallel litigations, with different outcomes across countries. With the creation of an EU patent and a centralised litigation system, Harhoff (2009) shows that at least €120 million would be lost by patent lawyers (no more parallel litigations), and hence spared by the business sector…

the EU patent with a unified jurisdiction would reduce both the costs and uncertainty currently associated with the fragmented European patent system…

Education Next

Antonucci notes that the largest political campaign spender in America is not a corporation or an industry association, it’s the NEA, which spent more than $56.3 million in 2007-08, $12.5 million ahead of the second place group.

The NEA collects $162 from each member teacher. Antonucci takes a close look at what that money is spent on…

Antonucci wonders why, when NEA members are no more liberal than the average American, labor unions contribute so heavily to progressive groups and causes. The answer is that union leaders, who mostly identify themselves as liberal, decide where the funds go…

Karen Birchard

a growing trend in Canadian higher education. Driven in part by the slouching job market, the country's colleges are seeing a rise in applications from people who have already received degrees from leading universities.

Public colleges in Canada offer a variety of vocational programs, including one- and two-year courses similar to what U.S. community colleges provide…

The trend, of course, hinges on a perception that a university bachelor's degree is not as valuable as it once was, at least in terms of finding work…