Professors receive grant for research

EAST LANSING, MI -- The Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC) has awarded 15,000 Euros to fund research by Michigan State University Professors Adam Candeub and Steve Wildman on the economics and regulation of search engines. TILEC, located at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, awarded the funds through its grant competition on the Law and Economics of Online Search and Search Advertising. The goal of the competition was "to bring together scholars in the fields of law and of economics to generate new, scientific, policy-relevant findings and to facilitate future collaborations." Candeub, professor and director of the Intellectual Property & Communications Law Program at MSU College of Law, is the primary researcher on the project. He is joined by Wildman, director of MSU's James H. and Mary B. Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law, which is dedicated to original research on current issues of information and communication management, law, and policy. Wildman explained, "The TILEC award will support interdisciplinary research into applications of notions of obviousness developed in patent law to regulation and competition policy for web applications, with a particular focus on search engines, and to searchable online databases." He added that questions critical to investigating policies for searchable online databases include "when they should be treated as patentable innovations conveying exclusivity protections to their owners, the extent of those protections and, for such access as is deemed appropriate, the terms under which that access should be granted." A paper on the professors' findings will be presented at a workshop in Tilburg by the summer of 2012. Michigan State University College of Law, a leading institution of legal education with a long history of educating practice-ready attorneys, prepares future lawyers to use ethics, ambition, and intellect to solve the world's problems. As one of only a few private law schools affiliated with a major research university, MSU Law offers comprehensive interdisciplinary opportunities combined with a personalized legal education. After 100 years as a private and independent institution, the affiliation with MSU has put the Law College on an upward trajectory of national and international reputation and reach. MSU Law professors are gifted teachers and distinguished scholars, its curriculum is rigorous and challenging, and its facility is equipped with the latest resources--all affirming MSU Law's commitment to educating 21st-century lawyers. Published: Mon, Aug 29, 2011