The Stakes of Tax and Intellectual Property: A European Approach

CIPP/Lallemand seminar with Nicolas Binctin, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law at the Universities of Poitiers, Paris II, and Paris 12 UPEC.

Abstract:

The current political discourse in tax policy and intellectual property policy originated in 1970s Ireland and in France. These tax policies, which were in a sense developed as public support for innovation and creation, are oriented to help creators and inventors. Now, tax competition between European states is a daily reality at the heart of the Open Market and is quite intense.

The economic actors in Europe, notably those with largely immaterial and global activity, can easily benefit from tax competition and organize and minimize their taxes in accordance with it. States create regulations, and those accountable to the law consistently apply it intelligently, and to their personal benefit as much as possible. States supply aid, often fiscal, but now those same states contest the behaviour of economic actors who try to profit from better offers of aid from other states. This includes Apple, Pfizer, Amazon, Google, as well as Engie, along with the many “scandals” now moving the public discourse, but it is rare that anyone takes the time to appreciate all the factors at play. One finds a variety of European tax solutions such as the cooking of a delicious Dutch sandwich.

To stop this tax competition and its effects on the organization of portfolios of various actors’ intellectual assets, one must turn the classic organization that had the ability to set up at the joint initiative of the States and the economic operators. It is also necessary to envisage the future of this organization in light of initiatives by the OECD (e.g. BEPS) and by the European Commission working against the erosion of the tax base, and taking the time to distinguish the stakes of the tax and intellectual property, and of the taxation of e-commerce to appreciate the evolution of the report of tax with, on one hand, intellectual property, and on the other hand, the new economy.

About the speaker

Professor Nicolas Binctin specializes in property law, business law, and intellectual property law. He has been invited to the Academy of the OAPI and has worked in a number of colloquiums in France as well as abroad. In 2007, he published his thesis titled, “Intellectual Capital” in Litec, a library collection of business law (volume 75) and a manual titled, “Intellectual Property Law” in LGDJ, a manual, whose fourth edition was published in 2016. In 2015 he published a work titled “Business Strategy and Intellectual Property” in Lextenso, and has participated in other collective publications in France and abroad. He also writes the column on industrial property in the JCP E and the column on intellectual property in JCP G. Additionally, he works on occasion with companies and law firms as an expert or consultant.

This seminar is accredited by a recognized provider for 1.5 hours of continuing legal education.