Disparagement as the facts of unfair competition This master's thesis titled "Disparagement as the facts of unfair competition" deals with various aspects of the legal regulation of this unfair competition practice which is regulated by Act No. 89/2012 Coll., The Civil Code. The thesis also deals with the development of legal regulation in Czech territory, introduces the topic into the European context and compares some partial aspects with the Dutch law. Disparagement is understood to mean an act by which a competitor states or spreads false statement about the situation, performance or product of another competitor, where such a statement can cause harm to that competitor. Disparagement is also an act by which a competitor states and spreads true statement about the situation, performance or product of another competitor, where such a statement is capable of causing harm to that competitor. The aim of this work was a detailed analysis of disparagement as the facts of unfair competition including the assessment of its pros and cons, the presentation of the expert's opinions on its individual aspects and a summary of the possibilities of protection against derogatory practices focusing on the special private law protection provided by the Civil Code in the sections dealing with unfair competition. In this...

Master of Science / Department of Psychology / Donald A. Saucier / This research examines the effect of exposure to anti-gay humor on individuals’ tolerance of anti-gay discrimination. Participants were exposed to one of four conditions in a 2 (message type; joke or statement) x 2 (disparagement; anti-gay or neutral) design. They read vignettes that contained anti-gay jokes or statements, or neutral jokes or statements. Individuals’ sexual prejudice, humor styles, discrimination tolerance, feelings of compunction, and perceptions of others’ tolerance were also measured. Results showed that individuals exposed to humorous stimuli were more tolerant of discrimination, compared to those exposed to non-humorous stimuli. Further, levels of discrimination tolerance were significantly related both to individuals’ levels of sexual prejudice and their preference for an aggressive humor style. No significant interaction effects were found among these variables. These findings contribute to the literature on disparaging humor by examining its effects on targets of a different social group, and by incorporating humor style as a potential moderating variable.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:23:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Eduardo Neves de Carvalho.pdf: 1819884 bytes, checksum: 743f5d09de2989d46ea6b1219468c007 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-30 / This essay is dedicated to the study of two empiric phenomena resulting from the use of the mark in the consumer market: acquisition and loss of trademark distinctiveness. The first part is dedicated of the study of acquisition of trademark distinctiveness which could happen in two possibilities: secondary meaning and notoriety. First of all, is addressed the distinctiveness, as the main trademark function and its condition of validity for granting the trademark registration. In the first case, the acquisition of distinctiveness of a trademark occurs by the factual phenomenon known as secondary meaning, in which a descriptive sign, apparently not distinctive, through its prolonged use on the market, acquired a secondary meaning as a distinctive brand, being therefore susceptible for trademark registration. In the second type of acquired distinctiveness, a common trademark can become notorious, renowned and with high commercial prestige within the consumer market through the trademark owner´s advertising investments, which receives special trademark protection: well-known mark within its commercial activity branch, and famous mark, which receives legal protection in all classes of goods and services. The Second Part of this work is dedicated to the study of the loss of distinctiveness of a trademark which may occur in two situations: genericism and dilution. The first situation, genericism, is the factual phenomenon opposed to the secondary meaning, in which, the trademark owner's behavior to promote its brand, results into semantic synonymous and descriptive of the product or service marked by the renowned trademark. The second situation of the loss of trademark distinctiveness is called the dilution phenomenon, which can occurs in three situations: the improper use of a high-renowned trademark in different goods and services marked by the original brand (blurring), the harm to a high-renowned trademark reputation (tarnishment) and the disparagement of a high-renowned trademark in promotional campaigns made by competitors / A presente dissertação analisa dois fenômenos fáticos decorrentes da utilização de uma marca no mercado consumidor: a aquisição e a perda de distintividade marcária. A Primeira Parte dedica-se ao estudo da aquisição de distintividade marcária que pode acontecer em duas hipóteses: significado secundário e notoriedade. Primeiramente, é abordada a distintividade como principal função marcária e condição de validade para a concessão do registro marcário. Na primeira hipótese, a aquisição de distintividade de um sinal marcário ocorre pelo fenômeno fático conhecido como secondary meaning, na qual um sinal descritivo, aparentemente não distintivo, face ao uso prolongado no mercado, adquire uma significação secundária como marca distintiva no mercado consumidor, tornando-se passível para registro. Na segunda hipótese, um sinal marcário comum, face aos elevados investimentos publicitários do titular, torna-se tão conhecido dentro do mercado consumidor, que recebe proteção especial: marca notoriamente conhecida dentro de seu ramo de atividade comercial, e marca de alto renome que possui proteção legal em todas as classes de produtos e serviços. A Segunda Parte deste trabalho dedica-se ao estudo da perda de distintividade de uma marca, o que poderá ocorrer em duas hipóteses: degeneração e diluição. A primeira situação, que é o fenômeno fático oposto ao significado secundário, ocorre pela degeneração, na qual, face ao comportamento do titular, ao promover sua marca, esta se transforma em sinônimo semântico do produto ou serviço assinalado por ela. A segunda situação de perda de distintividade ocorre pelo fenômeno da diluição, que pode se dar em três possibilidades: uso indevido de uma marca de renome em bens diversos daqueles assinalados pela marca original (ofuscação ou turvação), ofensa à reputação da marca de renome (maculação), ou adulteração desta marca em campanhas promocionais feita pelos concorrentes (propaganda comparativa)