Uppsatsen studerar den svenska musikbranschens behov av ett allmänt upphovsrättsligt undantag, hur väl den amerikanska principen Fair Use Doctrine lämpar sig som utgångspunkt för ett sådant undantag och vilka anpassningar principen och de svenska upphovsrättsliga undantagen skulle behöva vid en implementering. Förändringar i tekniska förutsättningar har resulterat i större risk för upphovsrättsliga intrång och ett behov av en mer flexibel upphovsrätt. Samtidigt har lagstiftarens åtgärder resulterat i en svåröverskådlig lagstiftning. Uppsatsen bedömer att det finns ett behov av ett allmänt upphovsrättsligt undantag likt Fair Use Doctrine i svensk upphovsrätt och att principen är lämplig såsom utgångspunkt för utformandet av undantaget. Som ett resultat skulle ett allmänt upphovsrättsligt undantag bistå med den flexibilitet som behövs, men även om många upphovsrättsliga principer som utformats i svensk praxis kan lämnas orörda behöver både principen och den svenska undantagskatalogen anpassas innan ett allmänt upphovsrättsligt undantag likt Fair Use Doctrine implementeras i svensk upphovsrätt. Det svenska rättssystemet uppvisar tendenser till både acceptans av öppna normer och en ovilja att skapa praxis gällande de upphovsrättsliga undantagen, men bör kunna utforma och tillämpa ett allmänt upphovsrättsligt undantag. Uppsatsen konstaterar att det allmänna undantaget bör införas som en generalklausul i 2 kap. URL och att regeringen bör studera denna möjlighet i ett framtida utredningsbetänkande.

The rise of ethical consumerism has contributed to that organisations increasingly include CSR policies in their business and marketing strategies. Consumers want to make more ethically based purchasing decisions, and are guided by organisations’ ethical claims and by product labels. However, there are many different ethical organisations and labels on the market today and consumers find it difficult to separate them and know what each of them stands for. Ethical consumerism stems from green consumerism and has contributed to the development and rise of the Fair Trade movement. The general idea of Fair Trade is to support producers in poor countries, and by purchasing Fair Trade products consumers can contribute to realising the Fair Trade objectives. Previous research has identified a gap between consumers’ attitudes and actual behaviour regarding Fair Trade consumption. Consumers clearly express a positive attitude towards the Fair Trade movement and Fair Trade products, but their attitudes are not reflected in actual purchases. Researchers suggest that the gap could depend on lack of information and proof that Fair Trade actually contribute to better working and living conditions of producers in poor countries, but this had not yet been investigated. Our main purpose with this degree project is to identify factors that could affect the attitude-behaviour gap, and more precisely how access to information affects the existing gap. Our conclusions and recommendations are providing valuable insights for Fair Trade and other ethical organisations and businesses that are part of ethical value chains. We therefore formulated the following research question: In what ways can Fair Trade certification organisations and retailers diminish consumers’ attitude-behaviour gap in Fair Trade consumption? In order to answer our research question, we formulated the following four sub-purposes; to investigate the dialogue between Fairtrade and consumers; to investigate how Fairtrade and retailers communicate and share information with each other; investigate retailers’ expected and perceived responsibility as part of the Fairtrade value chain; identify what factors consumers believe are important regarding Fairtrade and their Fairtrade consumption. Our study is delimited to Sweden and is based on content analysis of communication between Fairtrade Sweden, consumers and retailers, on Fairtrade Sweden's Facebook page. The study has both qualitative and quantitative characteristics, although focus is on qualitative data analysis. We collected a total number of 1671 posts and comments, where 357 were published by Fairtrade, 1215 by consumers and 99 by retailers and other businesses. All data were collected and categorised manually and copied into an excel sheet where each post and comment were coded. The analysis and discussion of our empirical findings are further based on theory within the fields of Fair Trade consumption, ethical and political consumerism, online communication, retail marketing and branding. The main findings from this research are that consumers view retailers as an important actor in the Fair Trade value chain. Consumers put high value in communication and cooperation between Fair Trade and retailers, but these two actors have not realised the advantages and opportunities of it. We have also observed that consumers seek to maximise utility and that the existing attitude-behaviour gap thereby is influenced by several factors. Branding and labelling within Fair Trade consumption are important for consumers' purchasing decisions. Although, we have observed that product brands that have the Fairtrade mark are perceived as more important than the Fairtrade brand itself. Consumers are loyal to brands and do not show a willingness to switch brands to buy a Fairtrade marked product. Moreover, Fair Trade consumption is influenced by other ethical and environmental concerns. Consumers want Fair Trade organisations to be ethical and also environmentally friendly at all stages and throughout the entire value chain.

This research has investigated local fair trade in Kitchener-Waterloo, seeking to determine its extent, the supports and obstacles it experiences, and the reasons people engage in it. Local fair trade combines localism with the ethical principles of fair trade, and is defined as 'any business for which profit-making is a means to achievement of social goals through local action'. Twenty-eight key informant interviews were conducted with local practitioners of fair trade, and with experts knowledgeable about fair trade, business, and Kitchener-Waterloo. Five follow-up interviews with practitioners added to the data on people's motivations for working in local fair trade businesses and organizations. The research revealed that many local fair trade businesses exist in Kitchener-Waterloo, but these businesses do not see themselves as connected with one another in the practice of local fair trade. No formal or informal network exists among them. The research findings indicated numerous major supports for local fair trade including: funding, volunteers, public awareness, a focus on business management, connections between producers and consumers, support from community and individuals, and action for change on multiple levels. Interestingly, the major obstacles to local fair trade were all associated with major supports. Obstacles included financial issues (high costs, low income), need for funding, difficulties with business operations, and a lack of public support, awareness, and understanding. People were motivated to work in local fair trade by a sense that what they did was 'good' or 'right', by a desire to work towards increasing people's economic security and human development, and because they wanted to promote sustainability, human health, and a healthy environment. The findings suggested that business issues are an ongoing source of challenge for many local fair trade businesses and organizations. They also suggested that local fair trade involves a difficult balancing act between business goals and social goals. The research highlighted a perceived need for greater public awareness and support for the goals of local fair trade, as well as, contradictorily, a sense that local fair trade would be more successful if it could reach 'mainstream' consumers through good business practice (rather than shared values). The research concluded that local fair trade, while present in Kitchener-Waterloo, needs better support and promotion for existing businesses to represent a serious alternative to conventional economics. Promotion must occur on various levels, from the education of individuals to advocacy at the international level, in order to promote fair trading rules and the rights of localities to make decisions in favour of localization and of environmental protection. Promotion should also include making information on local fair trade available to prospective and current business-people, investigating a long-term solution to the problem of funding, and developing a network for local fair trade business and organizations.

The objective of this study is to explore possible factors affecting college students¡¦ preference for fair trade coffee. The investigated factors included four of the values listed in Sheth, Newman and Gross's (1991a) theory of consumption values, as well as price, convenience (of buying fair trade coffee), and demographic variables. The values were functional value, social value, emotional value, and epistemic value. This study further divided emotional value into caring value and mood value; the formal reflected caring about farmers, child labor and the environment/ecology, and the latter focused on the possibility of having a good mood from consuming fair trade coffee. A convenience sample of 198 college students studying in Kaohsiung who often drank coffee were interviewed. Results from regression analysis suggest that college students would be more intended to buy fair trade coffee if they believed it had high caring value or high mood value. Furthermore, respondents spending less than 200 NTD per month on coffee were less intended to buy fair trade coffee than those spending between 200 NTD and 499 NTD per month on coffee were. Finally, functional value, social value, epistemic value, prices, and convenience¡Xall assessed by respondents' perceptions¡Xdid not have significant impact on the respondents¡¦ preference for fair trade coffee. Based on these findings, several recommendations were made to the government, schools, and organizations interested in promoting fair trade coffee.

Europa-Universiẗat Viadrina, Diss.--Frankfurt (Oder), 2006.

Research Question/ Purpose: Due to the increasing importance of international financial markets the significance of IAS 39 rises enormously. IAS39 deals with the measurement and recognition of financial instruments. One major aim is the valuation of the instrument at fair value. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is the examination of the major characteristics of the Fair Value Option (FVO) of IAS 39 and its affect on financial institutions. Design/Methodology/Approach: An interpretative research philosophy is chosen in order to write the thesis. Therefore, the annual business reports of four major European banking institutions Dresdner Bank AG (Germany), Royal Bank of Scotland Group (Scotland), Nordea (Scandinavia), Crédit Mutuel (France) are examined. The gathered information does not have a statistical value, meaning that it cannot be used in order to develop a general conclusion Findings: The analysis of the empirical findings and the amended FVO exhibits that banks tends to implement the FVO and FVA instead of applying Historical Cost Accounting. In addition a coherency is drawn between the major results of the empirical study, namely the importance of Fair Value Accounting (FVA). Conclusion: The conclusion can be drawn, that the FVO presents a milestone towards FVA but that the development is still in process. The FVO supports the reduction of accounting mismatches and facilitates the valuation of embedded derivatives. Furthermore, FVA increases the comparability and transparency of financial statements. Research Limitations: Due to the limitation of time, only a small number of banking institutions can be analyzed. A second limitation is that the banks have to adapt IAS and IFRS as their accounting standards. Originality /Value: .The aim of this paper is not to generalize but to prove with the support of a small sample the effects of the FVO on the four selected financial institutions. On the basis of the literature review and the practical analysis the conclusion can be drawn, that in case of the analyzed institutions the FVO presents a step towards FVA.

With the recent financial crisis that have happened and the global move towards fair value accounting financial institutions such as the IASB saw fit to increase the mandatory disclosure requirements by implementing IFRS 13 to regulated fair value accounting in IFRS. The implementation of IFRS 13 means that many of the old standards in regards to fair value will be replaced, for example investment properties reporting under IAS 40. Furthermore IFRS 13 redefines the classification system for assets and liabilities.   The purpose of this study is to investigate whether these changes have any influence on investment decisions. This has been done by adopting a qualitative abductive descripto-explanatory approach to our research, and our empirical data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with academics and audit professionals.   The analysis of our empirical data suggests that the implementation of IFRS 13 and its increased disclosure requirements have been useful to investor’s decision making. IFRS 13 accomplishes this through its increased clarity in financial reporting. However investors should be mindful whilst investing in companies utilizing Level 3 valuation techniques because they use estimates of unobservable inputs and because such estimates are hard to control they are prone to bias, error, and manipulation.

This thesis examines the historical development and current state of amendment law in the Australian patent system. Initial research on modern amendment cases immediately showed that the confused, inconsistent and complex state of the law is a significant problem. There is a plethora of different analytical tools and legal tests being applied to assess an amendment, yet they were developed in a different area of patent law, that of fair basing. Such tools and tests are ill equipped to provide any real assistance to decision-makers faced with assessing an amendment. In fact, they seem to lead decision-makers away from applying the correct investigation as set out in the amendment provisions of the legislation. The thesis examines the history of amendment law so as to place its discussion of the current problems in context and provide a better understanding of why the problems arose. Four major events are discussed in the thesis. Together, these events have shaped Australian amendment law over the past century: (i) the development and introduction of the “substantially larger than or substantially different from” test into the British and Australian statutory amendment provisions; (ii) the development and introduction of the concept of fair basing into British and Australian patent law; (iii) the development and introduction of the modern British and Australian statutory test for amendments and the tiered amendment scheme; and (iv) the analogies drawn in modern British and Australian cases between fair basing and amendment that ultimately led to fair basing tests being cross-applied in Australia to assess the allowability of amendments. The thesis shows how the very harsh early British treatment of requests for amendment ultimately led to statutory change. It also locates, for the first time, the common law origins of the notion of “fair basing.” The 1949 British legislation implemented a new and different statutory test that was intended to liberalise the whole area of amendment law. It also added the requirement of “fair basing” into the legislation. However, the thesis shows that this last development occurred via well-intentioned legislators with a significant misunderstanding of patent law. The notion of fair basing injected a great deal of uncertainty into an area of law that was previously settled. Theoretically, and in practical application, it caused problems. Then, when decision-makers sought guidance on the new amendment provision, they applied the tests developed in fair basing cases to assess amendments, with the consequent deleterious effects. The Australian experience largely mirrored the British experience until 1977 when the British Act changed. The significance of the thesis is that it clearly demonstrates that the currently accepted dogma – that fair basing is equivalent to the “in substance disclosure” statutory test for amendments, so fair basing tests can be used to assess amendment – is unsound. The thesis isolates the problems inherent in the dogma and the examination of relevant case law confirms the main hypothesis that the current approach should be rejected. It simply operates to the prejudice of inventors, their competitors, the public and the patent system itself. Most importantly, the thesis shows that reform is urgently needed. Some possibilities for reform are suggested.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2008. / Includes appendixes: [52]-75. Title from PDF title page (viewed September 22, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-51)

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 357-360).