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This thesis analyses legislative and judicial responses to parallel importation, a practice that pits intellectual property rights against the freedom of trade. Parallel importation involves the sale of genuine products holding intellectual property rights which have been imported into a country without the authorization of the IP rightholder. This practice is opposed by those who claim that their rights are infringed. The author examines responses in Canada, the United States of America, and the European Union, and finds that they are not consistent. / The author questions the applicability of using intellectual property rights to stop parallel importation and whether such measures are necessary to protect intellectual property rights and consumer welfare. According to the author, it is more appropriate to address rightholder concerns contractually. Consumer welfare can be assured with a statutory requirement that products have sufficient labelling to prevent confusion as to their origin.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität zu Breslau.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Tübingen, 1974. / Includes bibliographical references (p. viii-xxii).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2009. / Title from web page (viewed on Dec. 1, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR51511

Thesis (doctoral)--Universiẗat Münster (Westfalen), 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. ix-xx).

This thesis deals with the way in which copyright law is changing in the digital environment and the mechanisms which are facilitating this change. It deals with these issues by analysing the mechanisms of this change, specifically Digital Rights Management (DRM)Systems and anti-circumvention legislation, and the impact which this change is having on the rights of copyright users. The purpose of copyright is to provide an incentive to authors to continue creating while simultaneously providing a public good in allowing the public to use those creations in certain ways. Copyright achieves this purpose by granting both the author and user certain rights. The author is given a limited monopoly over their work in exchange for allowing this work to enter the public sphere and ensuring that users of that work can utilise that work in certain limited ways. The success of copyright thus rests on maintaining the balance between the rights of these parties. The rise of digital technology has created a situation in which copyright content can be easily copied by any party with a Personal Computer and disseminated around the globe instantly via the Internet. In response to these dangers, copyright owners are making use of DRM systems to protect content. DRM systems include various measures of control within its scope. Theses systems allow for copyright owners to control both access and use of content by copyright users. DRM Systems are not foolproof measures of protection however. Technologically sophisticated users are able to circumvent these protection measures. Thus, in order to protect DRM Systems from circumvention, anti-circumvention legislation has been proposed through international treaties and adopted in many countries. The combined effect of these protection measures are open to abuse by copyright owners and serve to curtail the limited rights of copyright users. The end result of this is that the balance which copyright law was created to maintain is disrupted and copyright law no longer fulfils its purpose. This thesis undertakes an analysis of these issues with reference to how these issues affect copyright users in developing countries. This is done with particular reference to possible approaches to this issue in South Africa as South Africa is a signatory to these anti-circumvention treaties.

Copyright law protection in the US and Europe Abstract The thesis compares copyright in the US and author rights in Europe. The comparison provides historical, theoretical, and international context. The thesis uses national legislation, European acquis, and international agreements. The case law of the EU Court of Justice and the US Supreme Court is used to provide a true picture of current legal regimes. The comparison uses the limits of copyright protection theory. General limits, such as the principles of uniqueness and originality or idea/expression dichotomy, draw the line between protected and unprotected works in selected copyright legislations. The Lockean natural law theory and utilitarian theory are compared to each other from the historical and philosophical points of view. This part of the thesis answers the question of where did these arguments emerge and what is their reason for copyright protection. Subsequently, the thesis introduces Aristotle's teleology as a suitable alternative for developed copyright systems. The following chapter describes international treaties and their role in the standardization of examined copyright systems. The thesis also explores contractual freedom in copyright. This chapter focuses mainly on legal reasons for authors to withdraw from the contract. The next...

This dissertation is animated by an interest in the investigation required to establish whether a specific work, be it a literary work, artistic work or published edition, created prior to the enactment of the current South African Copyright Act 98 of 1978, is eligible for copyright protection today. The main objective is to outline the historical development of the transitional provisions provided in South African copyright legislation and the approach adopted by our courts when applying them. This study aims to re-interrogate the application of the transitional provisions to pre-1979 works with a specific focus on the re-evaluation of the opinion and approach set forth by O.H. Dean in the year 1988, regarding the application of the transitional provisions and how the courts should go about implementing these provisions. This re-interrogation requires investigating which provisions should be considered in establishing whether pre-1979 works are presently eligible for copyright protection, in what context and manner those provisions are applicable and how our courts have, in reported case law, gone about implementing them. In order to conduct the aforementioned investigation, the provisions should first be placed in their historical context, which requires tracing the historical development and impact of the copyright transitional provisions first provided in the 1916 Act, to those presently provided in the 1978 Act. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Private Law / LLM / Unrestricted