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Arguably one of the most prevalent issues in the field of Intellectual Property law, both international and domestic, is that of the emerging orphan works problem. Orphan works are any original literary, pictorial or graphic illustrations, and photographs whereas the prospective user cannot readily identify and/or locate the owner(s) of the copyrighted material. This poses a legal risk of liability upon the prospective user for copyright infringement. This thesis focuses on the legal topic of copyright with an emphasis on orphan works legislation. This study compared and contrasted the experiences in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia which have all enacted legislation to mitigate the issue of liability to prospective users of orphaned works, to the United States which has been reluctant to do the same. Each country has used its own legislative model to mitigate the liability of orphan works. This study sought out to analyze each model as well as compare the legal, political, and economic similarities of each country to test the viability of a particular model being successful in the United States.

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This thesis studies the influence of US Supreme Court judgement in Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co on Directive 96/9/EC. It primarily looks at the implications of Feist decision, and the influence that it had on European legislation. The decision in Feist Publications led the Commission to believe two things: Feist created a new-line of jurisprudence in US in the context of copyright protection of factual databases, and the decision will be detrimental for future production of electronic databases. This thesis shows that the Feist decision was a clarification of existing copyright law. As an example, the thesis observes that the US database market did not react to any apprehended negative impact of Feist. In the US, where there was no specific Database Right, Feist has had negligible practical and doctrinal impact. The Feist decision also left an indelible mark on the overall structure of the Database Directive. While Article 3 represented the positive impact, Article 7 was surrounded by uncertainties and ambiguities. This Article represents the outcome of apprehending negative impact of Feist. This has resulted in an imbalance which must be rectified and only a limited amount of protection should be offered to producers in absence of evidence.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

The truck manufacturing field is expected to go through a disruptive change in the coming decade(s) due to a predicted implementation of autonomous (self-driving) heavy-duty vehicles. Here, companies face a challenge in that autonomous vehicles (AV) will include technologies and competences from multiple industries. This will most likely have an impact on how companies manage their intellectual property (IP) to protect their inventions if they wish to keep up with the changing market. To do this in the most optimal way, it is argued that a company’s IP-strategy needs to be incorporated into their business strategy. At the same time, studies show that companies are experiencing difficulties in extracting the full potential of their IP-management. Hence, this master thesis aims at investigating how a truck manufacturing company can adapt their IP-management policy in line with future developments within these emerging technologies and how their IP-strategy can become intertwined with their business strategy. Next to a literature review of these fields, the thesis conducts a qualitative case study of a truck manufacturer that intends to be part of this change based on 11 semi-structured interviews. From the empirical results, the company’s decision-making process regarding IP is identified, whereby this thesis suggests four points of improvement that could make their IP-management policy more effective. Further, this study presents three actions that can be taken in a company to incorporate their IP-strategy with their overall business strategy. The study ends with giving suggestions for future research and presenting six managerial implications that would come by implementing the suggestions made in this thesis.

This thesis aims to examine the intellectual property regimes in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states and assess the relationships between legislation, enforcement mechanisms and sharia law. The GCC states, currently Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar, all have varied mechanisms in place for both the implementation and enforcement of intellectual property rights. The thesis pays close attention to the evolution of intellectual property laws and regulations in the GCC states with particular interest directed towards the development of national intellectual property laws within the GCC states from the 1970’s onwards1. Intellectual property protection in the GCC states is considered from two perspectives. The first perspective addresses the international demand for higher standards of intellectual property protection in the GCC states. The second perspective defines intellectual property within the laws of Islam and explores the relationship between Islam and intellectual property. The latter part analyses religious influence, societal and cultural norms, economic reality and the developmental stage of each GCC state. It is an important area of study as developing Muslim countries are struggling with meeting international standards and a successful integrated framework will impact not only on GCC states but other Islamic states and as a result could potentially lead to more informed negotiation in trade agreements with developed states. The research argues there are systematic flaws in the GCC states adopting intellectual property laws which are in essence a procrustean modification of foreign laws which have developed from colonial occupation or laws taken from donor countries. The GCC legal systems of the states have evolved utilising different sets of legal principles and therefore it could be argued the foreign laws that have been adopted are somewhat unsuitable for the GCC states. The research has focused on the implications of the national and international legislative regimes on the protection of intellectual property rights on the GCC states. Consideration is given to compliance, mainly how compliant the GCC is to its World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership and Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIP’s) Agreement and to what extent the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) influence the intellectual property protection regimes in the GCC. The research has examined the development of the GCC in three distinct stages; pre-TRIPS, TRIPS compliance stage and TRIPS plus. Furthermore, the thesis argues that the somewhat simplistic formula of the GCC states passing a large number of intellectual property laws to appease the EU and US does not have the significant economic impact on the GCC economy as the international agreements would suggest. Not all trade is intellectual property related and not all foreign direct investment is contingent upon intellectual property protection. However, as the GCC states are largely oil dependent, they do need to diversify their trade and as such an intellectual property protection model that accounts for international intellectual property law and the bespoke cultural and religious views amongst GCC citizens can produce tangible results for both the GCC and its trading partners. What sets the research apart from previous research is two-fold. Firstly, the research is qualitative and has scratched beneath the surface of intellectual property law in the GCC and examined in detail the Islamic law principles that have been used to justify sharia compliance, the western perspective on international intellectual property and the impact of multilateral trade agreements. Secondly, the analysis of Islamic finance and the application of successful sharia compliant models in Islamic finance to intellectual property is innovative as it acts as a springboard to creating a modified sharia compliant intellectual property protection model. Finally, the thesis will conclude by making a series of recommendations to develop an integrated approach to intellectual property rights which takes into account; the structure of the GCC states, international agreements and pressures, the international institutions, Islamic finance and both societal and religious views.

The study’s aim was to determine how consumers relate to specific factors that affect the way in which fruit is marketed in supermarkets. This might have an influence on effective commercialization of new intellectual property in the global avocado industry.

published_or_final_version / Law / Master / Master of Laws