South African company law is currently the object of comprehensive review. One o f the areas under scrutiny is that of corporate governance. Control over management is vital in the interests of the company itself, its shareholders and its creditors. Effective accountability should be balanced against the need to allow those who manage a certain measure of freedom and discretion in the exercise of their function. Company directors are subject to various duties. This thesis concentrates on their fiduciary obligation. It is suggested that this sui generis obligation is owed to the company as a separate entity. Interests of other groups may sometimes merit con­ sideration. Against the background o f a com parative investigation, a "corporate opportunity" is defined as any property or economic opportunity to which the com­ pany has a claim. South African law protects a company’s claim to an opportunity if it is in the company’s line of business and if the company has justifiably been relying upon the director(s) to acquire it or to assist in its acquisition for the company. The application of established fiduciary principles suffice to resolve corporate opportunity matters. Essentially the application o f these rules amount to a determination whether the director has complied with his fundamental duty to act in the company’s best interests. There seems to be no need for a separate doctrine of corporate opportunities.' A director should only be absolved from liability on account of the company’s inability to pursue an opportunity or its rejection by the company if there was no real conflict of interest. The appropriation of corporate opportunities should not be ratifiable, both because the ratification constitutes a fraud on the minority, and because the decision to ratify cannot be regarded as being in the interests of the company. The relationship between the appropriation of corporate opportunities, misuse of confidential information and competition is investigated. These aspects fre­ quently overlap, but should be distinguished because their bases, and accordingly their appropriate remedies, may differ. Effective control may benefit by a restatement of directors’ fiduciary duties in the Companies Act. To this end certain amendments to the Act are recommended. / Mercantile Law / LLD

A presente dissertação examina a cessão fiduciária do direito do acionista aos dividendos, bem como a titularidade fiduciária (garantia real) dela resultante. A razão para a análise desses institutos deve-se ao aumento no uso desta forma de garantia em operações financeiras complexas realizadas no mercado nacional. Primeiramente, é feita uma análise das diversas acepções (perfis) que o direito do acionista ao dividendo pode assumir no contexto do ordenamento jurídico nacional, para daí concluir que tal direito é passível de cessão tanto em sua condição de crédito, presente ou futuro (a depender, justamente, da existência ou não de lucros sociais já deliberados), quanto em sua condição de direito expectativo. Isto é, de direito que o acionista detém, a partir do momento em que se torna titular de ações, de vir a adquirir direitos de créditos de dividendos a serem distribuídos pela companhia de tempos em tempos. Em razão da necessidade da imediata constituição da garantia real, especialmente diante de uma eventual falência ou recuperação judicial do devedor, este trabalho conclui que a titularidade fiduciária deve recair sobre o direito expectativo aos dividendos, visto ser ele um direito já existente e que permite ao seu respectivo titular se tornar, direta e imediatamente, proprietário dos créditos de dividendos que vierem a ser futuramente distribuídos pela companhia, desde que estes estejam limitados a certos valores e/ou períodos previamente acordados entre o credor/financiador e o devedor/acionista. Ademais, apesar de ser um direito inerente à participação social, o destaque e a cessão autônoma do direito expectativo aos dividendos não conflita com o disposto no art. 28 da LSA. O presente estudo argumenta também que o credor fiduciário pode, nos termos do art. 113 da LSA, exercer certos direitos de voto na companhia, desde que (1) o objeto da garantia seja o direito expectativo aos dividendos e (2) a sua influência nas deliberações sociais restrinja-se a estabelecer a forma como o lucro social será apurado e distribuído pela sociedade. Por fim, é argumentado também que, por ser uma garantia que recai sobre direitos patrimoniais pagos em dinheiro, duas consequências imediatas revelam- se aplicáveis: (i) durante o período em que não existe qualquer inadimplemento ou vencimento regular da dívida garantida, os dividendos que vierem a ser pagos pela companhia deverão ser destinados ao acionista devedor, podendo o credor deles se beneficiar apenas quando existir o efetivo vencimento ou inadimplemento da dívida; e (ii) durante o período de inadimplemento ou na data de vencimento regular da dívida, o credor pode reter os recursos necessários à satisfação de seu crédito, desde que restitua o eventual excedente ao acionista devedor, não havendo, por isso, razão que justifique o enquadramento da excussão da garantia como sendo uma violação à proibição do pacto comissório, conforme prevista no Direito brasileiro. / This dissertation examines the fiduciary assignment of shareholders rights to dividends, as well as the fiduciary ownership (security interest) resulting from it. The reason for the analysis of these legal institutes comes from the increasing use of this type of security interest in complex financial transactions carried out in the local markets. Firstly, this works conducts the analysis of the various meanings (perspectives) which shareholders\' rights to dividends may have in different contexts of the Brazilian legal system, concluding that this right may be transferred either as a credit right, existing in the present or in the future (depending precisely on the existence of corporate profits already distributed or not), or as an expectance right. By this last one, we mean the right held by the shareholder as soon as he/she/it becomes the owner of the shares issued by a certain company that enables him/her/it to become the owner of the dividends distributed by the company from time to time. Due to the importance of the immediate granting of the security interest, especially in light of a possible bankruptcy or judicial reorganization process involving the debtor, this paper concludes that the fiduciary ownership should have the expectance right to dividends as its underlying asset. This is so because such right is already an existing right that allows the shareholder to become, directly and immediately, the owner of the dividends to be distributed by the company in the future, as long as those dividends are limited to certain amounts or periods previously agreed between the creditor/financier and the debtor/shareholder. Furthermore, despite being an inherent right to the equity stake, the detach of the expectance right to dividends from the shares which comes from, following by its assignment to other parties, does not conflict with the provision set forth in Section 28 of the Brazilian Corporation Act. This study also argues that the secured creditor may exercise certain voting rights in the company responsible for the payment of the dividends, pursuant to Section 113 of the Brazilian Corporation Act, provided that: (1) the underlying asset of the security interest is the expectance right to dividends; and (2) his/her/its influence in the companys decisions is limited to the manner according to which the corporate profits will be accounted and distributed by the company. Finally, it is also argued that, for being a security interest that has receivables as its underlying assets, two consequences turn out to be applicable. (i) Over the period in which there is no default or regular maturity of the secured debt, dividends paid by the company shall be allocated in favor of the shareholder/debtor. The creditor will be able to receive them in the maturity date or upon the occurrence of a default only. (ii) Over a default period or on the regular maturity date, the creditor may retain the necessary amount of dividends to satisfy his/her/its credit, provided that any excess cash shall be transferred to the shareholder/debtor, reason for which there are reasonable grounds to sustain that this foreclosure mechanism does not violate the non-retention of collateral assets convention rule (pacto comissório) provided under Brazilian law.

O presente trabalho acadêmico procura construir um referencial teórico baseado no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro para definir o papel da empresa estatal no mundo contemporâneo. Trata-se do ponto de partida para compreender a atuação do Estado como acionista controlador e as regras de convivência com acionistas privados em posição minoritária e com outros grupos de interesse afetados pela atividade empresarial. A abordagem do tema apóia-se na idéia central de que toda empresa estatal está investida de uma missão pública, explícita ou implicitamente incorporada no objeto social, que varia conforme a natureza da atividade exercida e está sujeita a adaptações ao longo do tempo. A missão pública coexiste com a finalidade lucrativa inerente ao modelo de companhia e serve para condicionar a ação do Estado enquanto acionista controlador e dos administradores, dando conteúdo a seus deveres fiduciários. / This dissertation aims at establishing a theoretical framework according to Brazilian law to identify the role of state-owned enterprise in contemporary world. This is the first step to understand what the governments behavior should be as a controlling shareholder and the legal rules applied to its relationship with equity investors and others stakeholders. The approach is based on the assumption that every state-owned enterprise has a public mission implicitly or explicitly included in its bylaws objectives. The public mission varies according to the nature of the business and should be redefined from time to time to keep adherence to the external environment. The public mission coexists with the companys profit scope and guides the States actions, as well as those of directors and officers. For that reason the public mission is embedded in their fiduciary duties.

近年來，國際經濟危機層出不窮，產生各式各樣之公司治理問題；全球化之企業經營模式的崛起與迅速發展，企業之經營從國內走向國際，使得公司治理成為國際性之重要議題，美國之公司治理模式的移植亦於世界各國蔚為風潮。 公司治理之架構下，鑑於所有權與經營權分離原則，掌握公司經營權限之董事係公司核心，為避免擴大董事之經營權限的同時，會損及公司與股東之利益，美國法對於董事乃課以受託義務，其內涵包含忠實義務、注意義務與善意義務。然基於商業環境詭譎多變且有限司法審查能力，如董事必須為做出失誤經營決策負擔法律責任，將造成具有能力之人不願意擔任董事而不利於經濟社會之發展，故美國法院判決乃發展出經營判斷法則。經營判斷法則係推定董事係立於充分資訊、出於善意且誠實確信其係為公司之最佳利益，當原告主張董事違反受託義務時，應負有先行舉證證明董事行為不符合經營判斷法則之構成要件。 我國公司法第23條係忠實義務與注意義務之規定，惟對於經營判斷法則尚無明文規範，學說見解對於我國是否應引進經營判斷法則仍有爭議，法院實務雖早已援用經營判斷法則作為公司經營者之責任標準，卻存在諸多誤解導致誤將該法則視為行為標準。因此，似有必要重新審視經營判斷法則之定位，故本文嘗試提出對於經營判斷法則於我國之應用的見解與省思。然經營判斷法則與我國現有法制應如何相互融合仍有待立法配合與後續觀察。 / In recent years, the world has been engulfed by international economic crises, resulting in a wide range of corporate governance matters. The rise and rapid development of the global business model has made the management of enterprises go from a single country toward the whole world, making corporate governance an important international issue. The transplantation of corporate governance of America legal model has emerged as a global trend. Under the framework of corporate governance and in view of the principle of separation of ownership and control, the directors empowered decision-making authority are the core of the company. To avoid the expanding of directors’ decision-making authority and protect the interests of both the corporation and its shareholders, the directors has fiduciary duty which includes duty of loyalty, duty of care and duty of good faith. However, based on the complexity of the business environment and the limit of the capability of the judicial review, if the directors burden the responsibility for making wrong decisions will make capable people unwell to be directors and affect the development of the economy. The business judgment rule is the presumption that in making decisions not involving self-interest and self-dealing, corporate directors act on an informed basis, in good faith, and in the honest belief that their actions are in the corporation’s best interest. Article 23 of Taiwan Company Act is the regulation of duty of loyalty and duty of care. However, the business judgment rule is not regulated in Taiwan Company Act. The opinion of whether the business judgment rule should be introduced to Taiwan is still controversial. Therefore, it is necessary to reexamine the position of the business judgment rule in Taiwan legal structure and this article attempts to provide points of view in the issue. Last but not least, the interaction of business judgment rule and Taiwan legal structure still needs the cooperation of the legislation and following observation.

The subject matter of this Master's thesis is to describe and to analyze the legislation of the fiduciary duties as well as the related questions such as the business judgment rule and the request on the management decisions. The fiduciary duties represent the standard of acting which must be respected by the member of the elected body during the exercise of the managerial power. The business judgment rule, however, protects the members of the elected bodies from unjustified accusations of the violation of the standard of the acting while in the final consequence represents the protection of the authority to undertake the decisions. The request on the management decision represents an exception from the common rule, solely entrusting the management of the business into the hands of the statutory body. The main aim of this thesis is to describe and to analyze the listed legislations including the crucial questions arising from these issues together with the suggestion of the solutions. The diploma thesis consists of four chapters. First chapter presents the introductory treatise on the implementation of the legal establishment of the corporate governance together with the emphasis on the economical output. The second chapter is dedicated to the very merit. The legislation of the fiduciary duties,...

全球併購浪潮下，敵意併購向來是併購議題中備受矚目的焦點，許多國家均針對敵意併購設有明確的法規範，而我國自2002年通過企業併購法以來，已歷經十五年，在敵意併購相關法制的建構上卻顯有不足，導致實務上面臨許多問題。蓋我國近年來引發高度關注的敵意併購案件，幾乎皆以失敗收場，且雙方攻擊防禦的過程中往往演變為經營權惡鬥，不僅兩敗俱傷，亦使公司及股東利益蒙受損失。 有鑑於前述情況，本文擬從實證觀點探討我國企業環境與文化脈絡對於敵意併購之影響，並透過國內曾發生過的案例、主管機關的態度與法院見解，對我國現行法制進行反思。另外，本文亦藉由美國、英國、德國、歐盟和日本之比較法研究，從目標公司採行防禦措施之相關規範、對於股東之資訊揭露以及少數股東權益保障等面向，討論出可能且適合用於我國之規範方向，以作為建構我國敵意併購法制之參考。 / In the wave of global mergers and acquisitions, hostile takeover has long been a focal point on the issues relating to mergers and acquisitions. Many countries have already built up more transparent regulatory regimes specifically for hostile takeover activities. However, since Taiwan promulgated the Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act in 2002, the relevant laws and regulations were not sufficient to govern hostile takeover activities during the past fifteen years and a number of issues arose in practice. In recent years, the well-known hostile takeover cases in Taiwan all ended up in failure. The actions taken by the party initiating hostile takeover and the target company often led to corporate control contests, making both parties and the shareholders suffer losses. This thesis examines the influences of Taiwanese culture and corporate environment on hostile takeover. It also marks the deficiencies of the current regulatory regime in Taiwan by reviewing the hostile takeover cases, the opinions of the competent authority and the judicial judgements. In addition, this thesis introduces the legislations of the United States, England, Germany, European Union, and Japan on anti-takeover tactics, information disclosure as well as the protection of minority shareholders’ rights and interests. The thesis then analyzes whether these legal systems are suitable as a reference for Taiwan to establish relevant laws and regulations in the future.

Submitted by Diogo Dias Teixeira (diogo@diasteixeira.com.br) on 2018-09-20T13:37:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 20180920_trabalho_fgv_mestrado_vbibliotecadigital.doc: 333312 bytes, checksum: 4f9a22b754d1680d460aecd790f0e492 (MD5) / Rejected by Joana Martorini (joana.martorini@fgv.br), reason: Prezado Diogo, bom dia. Para aprovação de seu trabalho deverá ajustar as seguintes informações: 1- Submeter o trabalho em PDF 2- A palavra Getulio deverá estar sem acento. 3- Deverá inserir a baixo da ficha catalográfica o nome da pessoa que fez. Após os ajustes, submeter novamente. Att, Joana Alves on 2018-09-20T15:59:11Z (GMT) / Submitted by Diogo Dias Teixeira (diogo@diasteixeira.com.br) on 2018-09-20T16:46:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 20180920_trabalho_fgv_mestrado_vbibliotecadigital.pdf: 614398 bytes, checksum: e1cf1d91b93e92fc7faf72b87bb655dc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Joana Martorini (joana.martorini@fgv.br) on 2018-09-20T18:05:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 20180920_trabalho_fgv_mestrado_vbibliotecadigital.pdf: 614398 bytes, checksum: e1cf1d91b93e92fc7faf72b87bb655dc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-09-21T12:18:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 20180920_trabalho_fgv_mestrado_vbibliotecadigital.pdf: 614398 bytes, checksum: e1cf1d91b93e92fc7faf72b87bb655dc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-21T12:18:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 20180920_trabalho_fgv_mestrado_vbibliotecadigital.pdf: 614398 bytes, checksum: e1cf1d91b93e92fc7faf72b87bb655dc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-22 / O presente trabalho visa contribuir para a solução de questões inerentes à implementação de transações cujas obrigações estão, total ou parcialmente, garantidas por marcas, mediante alienação fiduciária, mais especificamente em relação aos possíveis impactos e obstáculos oriundos da legislação especial que regula a propriedade industrial, notadamente os pressupostos de legitimidade e universalidade da cessão, constantes dos artigos 134 e 135 da Lei 9.279/96, respectivamente. A primeira parte do trabalho expõe as restrições impostas pela legislação especial em casos de cessão de marcas, consubstanciadas nas exigências de ter o cessionário atividade compatível com a marca objeto da transação e ter todas as marcas idênticas ou similares contempladas na transação, e relaciona essas restrições à alienação fiduciária de marcas em garantia, que em alguma medida também envolve a transferência de determinados direitos do devedor para o credor fiduciário, o qual, por sua vez, muitas vezes não tem objeto social compatível com a marca tomada em garantia e não inclui na operação todas as marcas idênticas ou similares de titularidade do devedor. A segunda parte do trabalho estabelece uma comparação entre a cessão de marcas e a alienação fiduciária de marcas em garantia com o intuito de verificar se a equiparação é juridicamente adequada. Desse modo, visa essa etapa do estudo esclarecer se a legitimidade do credor e a universalidade da cessão são restrições de observância obrigatória para que se alcance todos os efeitos inerentes à propriedade fiduciária de marcas. Na terceira parte deste trabalho são apresentadas as conclusões e os efeitos práticos delas decorrentes, como aqueles oriundos da excussão da garantia e aqueles relacionados ao registro ou anotação do instrumento de garantia. / The value of most companies is currently related to their intangible assets, especially to their intellectual property rights. Among all of the available intellectual property assets, trademarks play a crucial role, not only in the composition of the company’s market value, but also in regards to its financing, often being used as a collateral to secure obligations (mainly within secured loans) and, thus, aiding the company to obtain financial resources from third parties. The Brazilian Law offers certain types of security interests, but only a few of them are compatible with intellectual property assets. From the compatible types, there is a singular form of pledge (fiduciary transfer) that results in the assignment of some of the ownership rights related to the trademark that has been adopted as a collateral. Due to its peculiar characteristics, the implementation of such fiduciary transfer may incur in a few legal issues – restrictions generally applied to trademark assignments - and the parties may be required to obtain a deeper understanding of such legal limitations if they intent to lawfully perform this specific kind of transaction. In this sense, the study aims to establish a proper and solid comparison between the referred pledge and a conventional trademark assignment, with the main objective of guiding practitioners through a path that overcomes possible legal restrictions. Furthermore, this study also covers the perfection of such security interest and its proceedings.

La protection juridique des idées générées par les entreprises au Canada ne répond que partiellement à leurs besoins et préoccupations. Ces idées qui se traduisent en des informations confidentielles ou des secrets commerciaux représentent une valeur économique considérable et croissante pour de nombreuses entreprises. C’est en l’absence d’une législation uniforme portant sur les secrets commerciaux en droit civil au Québec et en common law dans les autres provinces au Canada que sont créés des défis juridiques pour les entreprises. Une réponse conventionnelle à de tels défis consiste à prôner des réformes statutaires afin de renforcer le droit applicable relativement aux secrets commerciaux et leur protection. C’est précisément la solution qui a été retenue aux États-Unis avec l’adoption de législation portant sur les secrets commerciaux, telles que le Uniform Trade Secrets Act et le Defend Trade Secrets Act. L’entrée en vigueur au Canada de l’Accord Canada-États-Unis-Mexique a donné lieu à l’adoption de nouvelles dispositions criminelles, qui est en soi, une première étape vers la codification plus élargie de la protection juridique des secrets commerciaux. Ce mémoire porte, dans un premier temps, sur les notions d’informations confidentielles et de secrets commerciaux, ainsi que de l’absence de cohérence sur la nature juridique de ceux-ci. Dans un deuxième temps, ce mémoire traite des régimes de protection juridique des secrets commerciaux au Canada, tant en droit civil qu’en common law. Nous abordons comment le rapport de confiance joue un rôle déterminant sur les obligations de confidentialité à respecter en présence ou en absence d’un contrat. Par la suite, nous analysons les clauses essentielles qu’une entreprise doit prévoir dans un contrat commercial ou de travail ainsi que les mesures pratiques de sauvegarde à implanter pour contrôler la diffusion des informations confidentielles et des secrets commerciaux. / The legal protection of ideas generated by companies in Canada only partially meets their needs and concerns. Such ideas translate into confidential information or trade secrets representing considerable and growing economic value for a great number of companies. It is in the absence of uniform trade secret legislation under civil law in Quebec and common law in other provinces in Canada that legal challenges are created for companies. A conventional response to such challenges is the advocacy of statutory reforms to strengthen the applicable law with respect to trade secrets and of their protection. This is precisely the solution instituted by the United States with the adoption of trade secret legislation per the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the Defend Trade Secrets Act. The coming into force in Canada of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement has resulted in the adoption of new criminal provisions, which, is a first step towards the broader codification of the legal protection of trade secrets. Firstly, this masters’ thesis discusses the concept of confidential information and trade secrets, as well as the lack of consensus as to their legal nature. Secondly, the present thesis deals with the legal protection of trade secrets in Canada, under civil law and common law. We discuss the decisive role that trust occupies in the obligation of confidentiality that is to be respected in presence or absence of a contract. Subsequently, we analyze the essential clauses that a company must include in a commercial or employment agreement along with practical safeguard measures to be implemented to control the dissemination of confidential information and trade secrets.

This thesis brings together two responses to the question ‘how can the law extend the timeframe for environmentally relevant decision-making?’ The first response is drawn from the context of institutional investment, and addresses the timeframe and breadth of environmental considerations in pension fund investment decision-making. The second response is related to the context of public environmental decision-making by legislators, the judiciary, and administrators. Three themes underlie and bind the thesis: the challenges to decision-making posed by the particular temporal and spatial characteristics of environmental problems, the existence and effects of short-termism in a variety of contexts, and the legal notion of the trust as a means for analysing and addressing problems of a long-term or intergenerational nature. These themes are borne out in each of the four substantive chapters. Chapter III sets out to demonstrate the theoretical potential of pension funds to drive the reduction of firms’ environmental impact, and, focusing particularly on the notion of fiduciary duty, explores the barriers that stand in their way. Chapter IV provides a practical application of the theoretical recommendations outlined in its predecessor. It provides a framework outlining how pension funds might implement a longer term, more sustainable approach to investing. The second half of the thesis, operating in the context of public environmental decision-making, is centred upon a particularly poignant legal notion with respect to the environment and time: the concept of intergenerational equity. Just as the first half of the thesis deals with the timeframes relevant to investment decision-making by pension funds within the bounds of fiduciary duty, largely a private law affair with public implications, the second half of the thesis is concerned with the principle of intergenerational equity as a means for extending the decision-making timeframe of legislative, judicial and administrative decision-makers. As previous analyses of the concept of intergenerational equity provide little insight into its practical implications when applied to particular factual situation, Chapter V sets out the structure of the principle of intergenerational equity as revealed by case law. Chapter VI brings together the issues from the first three papers by conceptualising intergenerational equity in resource management as an issue of long-term investment. Long-term environmental decision-making faces many obstacles. Individual behavioural biases, short-term financial incentive structures, the myopic pressures of the electoral cycle and the tendency of the common law to reinforce the (often shorttermist) status quo all present significant barriers to the capacity of both private and public decision-makers to act in ways that favour the longer term interests of the environment. Nonetheless, this thesis argues that there is reason for hope: drawing upon the three themes that underlie all of the substantive Chapters, it articulates potential legislative changes and recommends the adoption of particular governance structures to overcome barriers to long-term environmental decision-making.

Současné vizuální markerové systémy mají jednu zásadní nevýhodu oproti tzv. markerless přístupům - pohyb kamery je omezen na oblast pokrytou markery. V každém snímku musí být marker dostatečně velký, aby jej bylo možné identifikovat a vypočítat pozici a rotaci kamery. Zároveň musí být dostatečně malý, aby se celý (nebo alespoň jeho podstatná část) vešel do záběru kamery. Avšak tyto požadavky jsou protichůdné. Tato práce nabízí řešení tohoto problému za pomoci konceptu Marker Fields. Jde o strukturu, jejíž přítomnost je možné v obraze kamery snadno detekovat a identifikovat část, na kterou se kamera právě dívá, a to na základě jakékoli (malé) podoblasti s definovanou velikostí. Aby bylo možné podoblasti identifikovat zblízka i zdálky, nejsou od sebe odděleny, ale do velké míry se překrývají. V této práci jsou vysvětleny různé implementace konceptu marker fields, spolu s jejich zamýšleným použitím a výhodami a nevýhodami. Jako důkaz použitelnosti marker fields v reálném světě, se druhá největší část této práce věnuje popisu jejich reálných aplikací.