Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

The diploma thesis analyses both legislative and tax aspects of employment assignment structures. First part of diploma thesis summarises data concerning Czech and European labour migration. Second part of the document focuses on the definiton of legal framework of assignment in view of the Czech republic legislation, legislation of the European Union and partly in view of the legislation of non-EU member states. Wide legal framework finally leads to definiton of three basic possible employment structures. Two of them are described in diploma thesis in more detail. The final part of document analyses tax aspects of mentioned assignment structures. This part also refers to international social security and health insurance aspects as well as selected labour law implications. The last part ends with analysis of relevant judicature of The Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic and The Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic.

The thesis deals with legislative regulation of franchising in the Czech Republic and which areas of law have influence on franchise agreements and how is this relationship to other areas of law solved. The thesis focuses on content of franchise agreements, on typical provisons of franchise agreements according to antitrust law, on protection of intellectual property rights, on unfair competiton and on personal data protection. Some aspects are discussed according to laws of the USA and Germany and are compared to Czech legislation. Available court decisions which deal with franchising were also used in the thesis. Gained knowledge was used to analyze franchise agreement of NATURHOUSE and to suggest some improvemenst in the agreement.

This diploma thesis deals with the processing of international trademark application under the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol to this Agreement. The aim of the work is to evaluate the functionality and benefits of the Madrid system on the basis of an analysis of the international filing procedure (i.e. through the Madrid system), supported by a comparison with national filing. The work responds to the question of whether the Madrid system fulfills its purpose, i.e. whether it simplifies registration of trademarks abroad, whether the international filing is financially advantageous and time-savings, and what other benefits it brings. On the other hand, the author seeks to identify and point out the disandvantages and potential pitfalls of the system. The work thus provides to potential applicants all the necessary information to determine whether to use the international way of trademark registration and what to do for a successful registration.

The Non-Agricultural Market Access Negotiations (NAMA) are being undertaken as part of the Doha Round of negotiations. NAMA negotiations are aimed at the trade liberalisation of industrial goods. Pursuant to the ‘development agenda’ adopted for the Doha Round, the NAMA negotiations also emphasise the development component. Particular emphasis is be made on tariff reductions in products of export interest to developing countries and the negotiations are to take special account of the needs and interests of developing countries, including through less than full reciprocity in accordance with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) provisions on special and differential treatment (SDT). This research attempts to determine this ‘development agenda’ through the prism of special and differential treatment as provided for in the NAMA mandate. An analysis of the SDT provisions in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and their application within the multilateral trading system reveals that SDT is a very controversial concept. Developing countries have used SDT to escape the strictures of multilateral trading rules and developed countries have used it as a ‘carrot and stick’ tool, to gain concessions from developing countries in other areas. SDT has further been revealed as a concept whose meaning and content is not very precise. While the provisions in the GATT as well as the Enabling Clause make good political and economic sense, they are not really actionable. This is because the concept is characterised by best-endeavour provisions that lack any legal force and cannot be adjudicated in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. Developed countries have thus not been called and cannot be called, legally, to account for lack of delivery on their commitments and obligations with regard to SDT. This has effectively constrained the use of SDT as a development tool within the WTO, and, being the only tool being utilised, there needs to be found an alternative way to address development needs in the WTO. The WTO has sought to address this through efforts to amend SDT to make it more precise, effective and operational. The content and meaning of the ‘development agenda’ itself in the Doha Round is very elusive and an effort is made in this paper to determine the appropriate meaning of development in relation to the multilateral trading system. Development as an objective in the WTO is not novel to the Doha Round. The WTO is littered with references to development and the betterment of the human condition in its preamble to agreements and other provisions. Development has to be considered in al its three dimensions: social, political and economical. While this paper does not advocate that the WTO become a fully fledged development institution, it can shape its development agenda in such a way that benefits on the economic front are designed to stimulate socio-economic development as well. An analysis of the NAMA modalities reveals that mercantilist objectives have triumphed in the negotiations and SDT has been lost by the wayside. Developed countries have sought for radical tariff reductions on the part of developing countries, with meagre flexibilities that are further constrained by requirements that no full sector be excluded from the formula cuts. SDT has not been considered and the commitments are not proportional to the development capacity of most developing countries. This is in direct contradiction to the SDT provisions in the GATT that are supposed to guide the negotiations as well as the provision on tariff negotiations. However, the modalities are not legally contestable because the SDT provisions do not hold any legal suasion. The NAMA negotiations reveal a development vacuity within the WTO that needs to be resolved by other means other than the traditional SDT. Taking into consideration the evolving power bases and the politics of the membership of the WTO, this is an imperative. This paper proposes that Aid for Trade is the best option available to the WTO system. The concept does find support in GATT/WTO provisions on SDT and can be modified to be more predictable and sustainable. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

Face à la "mondialisation" du fléau de la contrefaçon, les États ont édicté l'Accord ADPIC pour harmoniser, à l'échelle internationale, les règles de protection des droits de propriété intellectuelle et les moyens de les faire respecter contre la contrefaçon. L'Accord ADPIC est le premier traité multilatéral qui prévoit de véritables "moyens de faire respecter les droits de propriété intellectuelle". Sa partie III consacre un important volet aux prescriptions spéciales aux frontières, aux procédures et mesures correctives, civiles et pénales destinées à lutter contre la contrefaçon. Signataires de l'Accord ADPIC, les seize États membres de l'Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI) ont révisé le 24 février 1999, leur législation commune l'Accord de Bangui afin de se conformer à leurs engagements internationaux. Cette étude consacrée aux marques, catégorie des droits de propriété intellectuelle la plus connue mais aussi la plus contrefaite de l'espace OAPI, démontre que les exigences de l'Accord ADPIC ne sont pas respectées plusieurs années après sa ratification. La première partie de cette étude consiste en une analyse critique des règles de protection de la marque. La seconde partie met en exergue le non respect des droits des détenteurs de marques contre la contrefaçon. Après avoir souligné les nombreuses contingences qui entament l'efficacité des moyens de lutte contre la contrefaçon, une série de mesures est proposée afin d'améliorer le respect des droits de marques en particulier et de propriété intellectuelle en général. / Faced with the "globalization" of the scourge of counterfeiting, states have enacted the TRIPS Agreement to harmonize on an international scale the rules of protection of intellectual property rights and means to enforce them against counterfeiting. The TRIPS Agreement is the first multilateral treaty that provides real "means of enforcing intellectual property rights." Part III devotes an important part on special border requirements, procedures and remedies, civil and criminal measures to fight against counterfeiting. As signatories of the TRIPS Agreement, the sixteen members of the African Intellectual Property Organization (AIPO) revised on the 24th February 1999, their common law the Bangui Agreement in order to comply with their international commitments. This study on trademarks, the best known category of intellectual property but also the most counterfeited in the AIPO space, demonstrates that the requirements of the TRIPS Agreement are not met several years after its ratification. The first part of this study is a critical analysis of the rules of trademarks protection. The second part highlights the disregard for the rights of trademarks owners against counterfeiting. Having underlined the many contingencies that cut into the effectiveness of the fight against counterfeiting, a serie of measures is proposed to improve the rights of particular trademarks and intellectual property in general.

Thesis(M.A. (Translation and Linguistics Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The aim of this study was to examine the notion of projection, as underpinned by the Projection Principle, between the subject, the verb, the object, the adjective and the adverb in Tshivenḓa. Data were collected through participant observation, wherein the researcher collected data in the form of clauses and sentences in Tshivenḓa. This study found that verbs and subject prefixes are predicates which project arguments in sentences. These arguments are characterised both linguistically and in the form of word realities. The study further found that Tshivenḓa is a pro drop language because the adjectival argument prefix can locate the subject argument in absentia. In turn, subject arguments and adjectival arguments carry the same class nominal prefix. The projection of elements of a sentence in Tshivenḓa identifies grammatical relations between constituents. Lastly, it is recommended that studies of a similar nature should be conducted in other African languages to establish how elements of a clause or sentence cohere as informed by the Projection principle.

Blockchain seems to be the hot new innovation that brings disruption to many different industries in the form of decentralization. Groups of peers can finally organize and work together without a central actor having an authority over the transactions that occur. Other than decentralization, due to the distributed and cryptographic nature of the data, the system also enjoys resilience, immutability and safety. In this thesis, we are leveraging permissioned blockchain technology to take steps towards a trustless service level agreement (SLA) management system where both service providers and customers lack the power to tamper with the contracts and their outcomes. The thesis yields a systematic literature review on the state-of-the-art within SLA management and relevant blockchain technology, a proof-of-concept working with Ericssons decentralized edge service marketplace, Nubo, and finally asimulation which evaluates how the proof-of-concept performs in terms of throughput and latency under different network loads. The simulation shows that the network works as expected, until 70 transactions per second (TPS) are reached, at which point the network is limited by throughput. / Blockchain ser ut att vara den nya teknologin som leder till stora förändringar i olika industrier i form av decentralisering. En grupp av noder kan till slut organisera sig och arbeta tillsammmans utan en central figur som styr och har kontroll över arbetet. Utöver decentralisering ger blockchain också fördelen av uthållighet, oföränderlighet och säkerhet till systemet tack vare sin kryptografiska grund. I den här studien utnyttjar vi privat blockchainteknologi för att ta steg mot en decentraliserad service level agreement (SLA) platform, där både tjänsteleverantörer och konsumenter saknar makten att manipulera kontrakt och dess resultat. Studien ger en systematisk literaturstudie på state-of-the-art inom SLA och relevant blockchain teknologi, ett bevis på koncept som fungerar tillsammans med Ericssons decentraliserade Nubo Service Marknad, och till slut en simulation som undersöker hur systemet reagerar i form av genomströmmning och responstid under olika nätverksbelastningar. Undersökningen visar att nätverket fungerar som förväntat upp till 70 transaktioner per sekund, då nätverket begränsas av genomströmning och köer bildas.

This study represents a sociolinguistic contribution to the analysis of Past Participle Agreement (PPA) in [avoir+PP] constructions. In spoken French, this agreement is marked only for gender, and is subject to much variation in the production of speakers of French. The objectives of this thesis are twofold: firstly, to observe the variable in the context of production, by a quantitative study of several corpora. Variation in the production of PPA is tested against linguistic factors, such as the position of the participle in the verbal group where it appears. Social and stylistic factors are also considered, notably the socioprofessional category of the speaker. These analyses reveal that agreement is conditioned by a complex interaction of these factors. The second objective is the design of a Matched Guise Test, based on scripted conversations. This test was carried out with a view to measuring the extent to which the presence or absence of marked PPA, often considered a typical result of normative pressures, affects the stereotypical social representation of a speaker. Differences in informants' judgements were modest, and two issues are discussed with regard to this: firstly, the validity of the methodology, and secondly, the evaluation of PPA as a sociolinguistic marker. Both parts of this thesis reflect the methodological issues pertaining to the investigation of a rare variable.

The sports in Sweden has previously been self-regulated with its own rules and provisions. As the commercialisation and professionalization have increased the common legal system has a greater impact on sports. The purpose of this study is to investigate the professional ice hockey adjustments to the labour law regulation. Furthermore the purpose is to illuminate possible advantage and disadvantage with the professional ice hockey player’s conditions of employment. To answer the purpose and the research questions of this study the legal dogmatic method, the legal sociology method and qualitative method with interviews has been used. The study shows how the professional ice hockey has adapted the labour law regulations with collective agreement due to the semi-dispositive provisions found in Swedish labour law. In Swedish professional ice hockey only the fixed-term contract is applied and most of the provisions about employment security are not available for the ice hockey players. In return the players has a stronger protection during the employment. As an employee and a parent the right to have a parental leave is statutory. The study shows a complex of problems with ice hockey player’s opportunity to have a parental leave, which is a right as an employee. This raises questions about equality between men and women in the labour market of ice hockey.