Professorship of the Cluster of Excellence – Professorship of Civil and Commercial Law with a focus on international intellectual property law

Prof. Dr. Alexander Peukert

Alexander Peukert’s cluster professorship focuses its research on intellectual property (IP) law and competition law. His research interests focus on the theoretical foundations of these areas of law and their dogmatics, with particular emphasis on international aspects. There are links to the interdisciplinary research project of the cluster in two respects. On the one hand, the concepts and narratives with which the expansion of international intellectual property law as a practically universally recognized legal system took place were investigated. Secondly, with a view to the tension between strictly national-territorial IP regulation on the one hand and the global economy and communication on the other, the question was asked to what extent a law is emerging beyond the state or in the shadow of the state, in particular in the form of cooperation between private and state actors.
In 2012, Alexander Peukert published a fundamental monograph on the theory of intellectual property and competition law on the concept, function and dogmatics of public domain in German and European law. In an essay published in German in 2013 and in English in 2015, Peukert developed a theory of two different communication cultures that coexist on the internet and whose coexistence is regulated by law. In a dissertation supervised by Peukert and several essays, the narratives and central concepts on which copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are now practically universally recognized, are based were analysed. Peukert also drew on social science theories, in particular Karl Polanyi’s “Great Transformation”, to explain the development and expansion of this area of law. From a social theory perspective, the intersection of copyright and science law as well as economization phenomena were also examined using the example of the law against unfair competition. The research work carried out as part of the cluster project “Transnational Regulation of Intellectual Property through Cooperation” also lies at the interface between legal theory and legal doctrine.
The chair’s legal doctrinal research includes extensive commentaries in major commentaries on copyright and unfair competition law as well as the revision of the 17th edition of a standard textbook on copyright law.

The most important publications of this professorship of the Cluster of Excellence:

Peukert, Alexander: The public domain. Concept, function, dogmatics (Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Volume 63), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012, VIII, 321 pages.

Peukert, Alexander: Das Urheberrecht und die zwei Kulturen der Online-Kommunikation, GRUR-Beilage 2014, pp. 77-93; English version: “Copyright and the Two Cultures of Online Communication”, in: Paul L.C. Torremans (ed), Intellectual Property Law and Human Rights, 3rd ed. 2015, pp. 367-395.

Peukert, Alexander: “Intellectual property: the global spread of a legal concept”, in: P. Drahos/G. Ghidini/H. Ullrich (eds.): Kritika – Essays on Intellectual Property,Vol. 1, 2015, pp.114-133.

Peukert, Alexander: “Vom Warenzeichen zum Markeneigentum. Ein polanyischer Erklärungsversuch”, in: W. Büscher, et al. (ed.): Market communication between intellectual property and consumer protection. Commemorative publication for Karl-Heinz Fezer on his 70th birthday, 2016, pp.405-426.

Nazari-Khanachayi, Arian: Rechtfertigungsnarrative des Urheberrechts im Praxistest: Empirie zur Rolle des Urheberrechts, Diss. Frankfurt am Main, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016, 272 pages.

The most important events of this professorship of the Cluster of Excellence:

International Conference: Normative Orders of the Digital, July 6-7, 2017 (co-organized with C. Burchard and C. Daase).

Workshop Series: “International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Intellectual Property”, 2011-2017; with (among others): Susan Sell (George Washington U), Dan Burk (UC Irvine), Graeme Dinwoodie (Oxford), Jayashree Watal (WTO), Barton Beebe (NYU).

Lecture Series: “Frankfurter Abendkolloquium zum Immaterialgüterrecht”, with (among others): Karl-Nikolaus Peifer (Cologne), Annette Kur (Munich), co-organized with Louis Pahlow.