Research focus
The chair's research focuses on the protection and exploitation of technical innovations and other intangible assets, such as trade secrets, research data and computer programs, and on the legal framework for the use of technology.
Intangible assets are among the most important assets of a company. They serve to protect and commercialise new products and are essential for the development of technical innovations. Patent protection and the protection of trade secrets (know-how) play a central role here, as do trade mark and design protection. The possibilities for developing innovative products have increased exponentially in recent times, particularly as a result of advancing digitalisation and the increasing use of autonomous systems, which automatically raises questions about the respective legal framework conditions and, above all, the legal limits. Copyright law also plays an important role here, for example when third-party, copyright-protected content (such as texts, images, website designs) is used to train generative AI systems.
The legal protection and exploitation of innovations also has a lasting effect for companies that should not be underestimated, as it allows investments made to be amortised and the unwanted outflow of technical information to be avoided.
Lehrbuch Wirtschaftsprivatrecht kompakt
4th edition
About the authors:
Prof. Dr Christoph Ann LL.M. (Duke Univ.) holds the Chair of Business Law and Intellectual Property at the TUM School of Management.
Prof. Dr Ronny Hauck holds the Chair of Civil Law, in particular Innovation and Technology Law at the Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg and is an adjunct professor at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Prof. Dr Eva Inés Obergfell is Professor of Civil Law, Intellectual Property and Copyright Law, Private International Law and Comparative Law at the University of Leipzig and Rector of the same university.
As before, the new edition of this textbook covers the essential contents and contexts of civil law and commercial and corporate law in a compact form, such as
- the theory of legal transactions
- types of contracts and consumer protection
- the law of unjust enrichment and tort law
- merchant status and representation of the merchant
- commercial register, company and corporate law
- Commercial auxiliary persons and commercial transactions
- Credit insurance
- Law on partnerships and corporations.
Descriptive cases with detailed solutions, examination schemes, definitions and diagrams help to summarise and learn the material.
The textbook is aimed at students of economics and law as well as anyone who wants to work on or deepen the content mentioned.
