The current patent system is by many scholars considered flawed regarding the intended positiveeffects on innovation, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, aneffective patent system requires possibilities for firms to enforce their patent rights to fulfil thebasic premise of inspiring innovation. The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges thatSMEs face in patent litigation and how it affects them and their innovation. 14 semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with Chief executive officers or research and development managersof Swedish SMEs to gain insights into the process of patent litigation and its effects on theinterviewed firms. Results showed that R&D investments decreased after patent infringement inmany cases and that firms had a tendency to change the way new patents are written to createstronger patents. The main finding is that patent litigation had a negative effect on SMEs, due tothe high direct and indirect costs resulting from a patent case. This adds to previous researchwhich highlights the disproportionate effects of patent litigation on small firms compared tolarger firms.

With the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom, the judges of Catalonia and southern France worked to keep the region’s traditional judicial system operable. Drawing on records of judicial proceedings and church dedications from the ninth century to the end of the eleventh, this dissertation explores how judges devised a liturgically-influenced court strategy to invigorate rulings. They transformed churches into courtrooms. In these spaces, changed by merit of the consecration rite, community awe for the power infused within sacred space could be utilized to achieve consensus around the legitimacy of dispute outcomes. At the height of a tribunal, judges brought litigants and witnesses to altars, believed to be thresholds of Heaven, and compelled them to authenticate their testimony before God and his saints. Thus, officials supplemented human means of enforcement with the supernatural powers permeating sanctuaries. This strategy constitutes a hybridization of codified law and the belief in churches as real sacred spaces, a conception that emerged from the Carolingian liturgical reforms of the ninth century. In practice, it provided courts with a means to enact the mandates from the Visigothic Code and to foster stability. The result was a flexible synthesis of law, liturgy, and sacred space that was in many cases capable of harnessing spiritual and community pressure in legal proceedings.

Strategic litigation for the achievement of education rights for pregnant learners in Africa has emerged at both national and regional level in recent years. While it is important that the narrative shaped by these cases reflect a child-rights approach, informed by sufficient child participation and consideration of their views, a child-rights approach is not always followed, nor is the content of such an approach sufficiently explored in the literature. This study explores the theoretical content of a child-rights compliant approach to litigation as well as its application in African cases, and the effect that this approach or lack thereof has on children’s long-term enjoyment of their rights. The main question the research seeks to answer is whether strategic litigation on pregnant learners in Africa has effectively applied a child-rights compliant approach. In order to answer that question the scope and content of, and the normative basis for, a child-rights compliant approach to strategic litigation is explored. The research seeks to answer whether the cases before the African human rights system’s judicial bodies are compliant with such an approach. The main research question is complemented by secondary questions: What is the effect of a child-rights approach to impact litigation on access to education for pregnant learners in Africa, and what can future litigators do to improve child-rights compliance to litigation? The study reveals that the essential tenets of a child-rights approach consist of four crucial elements, namely a basis in conception of childhood as agentic as opposed to protectionist; procedural child-friendly access to justice; child participation through being heard and by being parties to a case; and rootedness in a child inclusive social movement. It concludes by making recommendations to various stakeholders towards improved implementation of a child-rights approach in strategic litigation. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Centre for Human Rights / LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa) / Unrestricted

Le règlement de différends dans le secteur des communications électroniques est un mécanisme quasi-juridictionnel particulier, à mi-chemin entre droit public et droit privé. Mis en œuvre au sein de l’ARCEP, régulateur sectoriel sous le statut d’autorité administrative indépendante, ce mécanisme, qui s’est progressivement structuré et ouvert au fil du temps, produit néanmoins un contentieux spécialisé. En effet, il ne concerne en pratique que les seuls opérateurs réglementairement qualifiés et a pour objet la défense d’un droit économique : l’accès, matérialisé par le droit à l’interconnexion. Cet accès aux réseaux des opérateurs en présence est vital pour le développement et le maintien d’un marché ouvert et atomisé. Dès lors, l’intérêt d’une étude approfondie sur le règlement de différends dans le secteur des télécommunications est multiple. D’abord, les protagonistes du contentieux évoluent : avec la redéfinition actuelle du statut d’opérateur par l’émergence des collectivités locales (Article L1425-1 CGCT) et l’irruption plus récente d’acteurs utilisant la couche supérieure du réseau (i.e. diffusant seulement du contenu, appelés OTT, pour over-the-top). Puis, la procédure élaborée par le législateur interroge : pourquoi impliquer une personne publique dans des négociations commerciales entre personnes privées ? La dualité du contentieux, oscillant apparemment entre contentieux public en première instance et contentieux privé pour l’appel ne fait que renforcer un peu plus cette singularité qu’il convient d’analyser plus avant. De plus, avec un marché en consolidation et une Europe en intégration, du moins économiquement, la question de l’avenir d’un tel mécanisme se pose, dont la plus récente réforme inclut désormais de possibles cas de contentieux communautaires, avec la participation du BEREC comme organe consultatif. Enfin, notons une place importante accordée aux témoignages et aux expériences de celles et ceux qui font vivre ce contentieux, constituant une tentative d’apporter un éclairage de sociologie juridique à cette étude, entre théorie et pratique d’un contentieux particulier de la régulation. / Dispute resolution is a very specific legal tool, mixing private and public legal elements. The ARCEP, the National Regulatory Authority in France is in charge to regulate the sector and has the power to litigate disputes about interconnection or access. Established in 1996, the ARCEP developed a certain practice of this type of disputes, elaborating a specialized litigation to enforce the right to interconnection, granted by European laws. Such a right is vital for operators in order for them to be able to compete with the incumbent. Consequently, efficiently resolving every dispute to keep market competitive is crucial. Studying such a mechanism has several interests. Firstly, the very concept of operator evolves. Local authorities now have the ability to intervene and deploy networks available for other operators and even the public. More, over-the-top actors providing content services on the Internet have an increasing impact on the networks and they are now competing operators on telecommunications services. Secondly, the procedure is debatable: how a public body can intervene on commercial contracts? As France has a bi-jurisdictional order, splitting courts between private law and administrative law, dispute resolution changes this traditional way, making administrative decisions appealed at the Cour d’Appel de Paris. Lastly, the growing scaling up of the market, from national to European level, questions the ability of ARCEP’s mechanism to evolve.Using a mixed method, combining theoretical and practical approach, we aim to explain how this specific way to make regulation is a real asset for competition.

La réforme économique en Chine a été largement appréhendée comme un processus dans lequel le paternaliste danwei a été remplacé par le contrat de travail, un concept plutôt libéral. A cet égard, le déclin de bien-être à caractère socialiste et la montée d’assurance sociale sont considérés comme un phénomène de marche, les récents législations sociales sont discutés dans le cadre polanyien de double-mouvement qui invoque la dichotomie entre état et marche. Cette étude vise à offrir une perspective alternative en repensant l’évolution de la transformation moderne du travail en Chine d’une manière institutionnelle. Nous montrons que la structure de l'emploi héritée de danwei était au cœur des lois du travail de la Chine en temps de réforme. La protection de l’emploi reste pertinente tandis que l’afflux de main-d’œuvre informelle en provenance des zones rurales a explosé dans les secteurs privés urbains. Eux, ils sont devenus de plus en plus des outsiders du marché du travail qui sont vulnérables quant à leur condition précaire. Cette configuration institutionnelle correspond à une structure hiérarchique dans laquelle le ‘insider’ se distingue clairement du ‘outsider’ en termes de stabilité de l'emploi et de bien-être social. Malgré les récentes législations qui visent à rendre l'assurance sociale plus inclusive, notre étude de terrain sur la résolution des conflits du travail dans l'arbitrage et le tribunal a montré que la capacité de mobiliser la loi peut différer en termes de préoccupation personnelle sur le marché du travail. L'approche de capabilité et la sociologie du droit nous permettent de développer un cadre analytique nuancé permettant d'identifier la raison sous-jacente pour laquelle les individus adoptent différentes stratégies tout en contestant la loi abstraite dans une situation concrète. Notre étude conclut que la législation du travail ne sont pas nécessairement des réactions intentionnelles à la dynamique du marché mais plutôt, en tant que forme essentielle de convention sociale, a initié le cadre dans lequel les parties coordonnent leurs activités économiques. / Market reform in China has been widely understood as a process in which paternalistic socialist danwei was replaced by labour contract that is liberal-oriented. In this regard, decline of all-encompassing welfare arrangements and the rise of social insurance is seen by mainstream as a market phenomenon, recent legislations on social rights are discussed within Polanyian double-movement framework which invokes the dichotomy between state intervention and market.This study provides an alternative perspective by rethinking the evolution of China’s modern labour transformation in an institutional way. We show that inherited employment structure rooted in danwei lied at the core of China’s labour laws in reform time. Employment protection remained relevant while influx of informal labour from rural area boomed in urban private sectors. The later, increasingly became labour market outsiders who are vulnerable as to their precarious condition. This institutional configuration amounted to a hierarchical structure in which core workforce is clearly distinguished from precarious one in terms of job stability and welfare benefit. Despite the recent legislations which aim at making social insurance more inclusive, through our field study on labour dispute resolution practice in the labour arbitration and court, we found that the extent to which people can benefit favourable legal terms is contingent as the ability to mobilize law can differ in terms of people’s own preoccupation in the labour market. The Capability approach and Sociology of Law allow us to develop a nuanced analytical framework whereby we could identify the underlying reason why people take various strategies while contesting ‘abstract law’ in concrete situation. Our study concludes that labour legislations are not necessarily intentional reactions to market momentum but rather, as essential form of social convention, initiated the framework in which parties coordinate their economic activities.

Water is one of, if not the most, valued natural resource on the planet. Over the years, the quality of Earth's waters has deteriorated primarily due to pollution. All ecosystems are highly dependent on this resource, which makes it very important to protect water from unnecessary pollution. One ecosystem that has been greatly affected by pollution, mainly as a result from runoff of fertilizers used by farmers in the region, has been the Everglades located in south Florida. As a result, the protection and desire to restore this ecosystem has become the subject for litigation in recent years. The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians is the chief litigant for the pursuit for improved water quality due to their dependence on the water of the Everglades for survival. This thesis will examine the Everglades in its entirety by providing a history of the establishment of the Everglades as well as a description of the Everglades ecosystem and the water quality. The thesis will then introduce the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and how they have become dependent on the Everglades ecosystem. Finally, the thesis will examine the involvement of the state and federal government in the issue of water quality through various agencies and pieces of legislation. The purpose of this thesis is to then analyze several cases in which the Miccosukee Tribe has been an interested party and sought to achieve improvements for the water quality of the Everglades. In addition to the original cases, the thesis will provide subsequent case history through its most current status. The thesis will explain whether the Miccosukee Tribe has been successful in its attempt to provide strict standards for water quality and hold those in violation of these standards responsible for their actions.

Using the concepts of the institutional completeness of ethnic communities (Breton, 1964) and the gay male community (Lee, 1979) and more recently, 'deviant' organizational sophistication (Best and Luckenbill, 1982), this thesis examines the gay world argue that traditional concepts, in solitude or synthesis, cannot wholly illuminate the phenomenon of modern gay evolutionary development. Notions of subculture and community are inadequate tools by which to describe the complexity and cultural materials of a contemporary and emergent ethnographic unit of analysis: the gay world. Documentary and archival research, personal correspondence and in depth participant-observation have produced an array of historical and cultural materials and analyses of gay iconography, stereotypes, bars, and gay media. Structural features such as the politicization of homosexuality (the shift from rights lobbying to political and legal litigation) the politics of gender and AIDS, emergent age structures and the paradox of capitalist enterprise and liberation have also been examined. It is hypothesized that local gay communities (towns, cities, provinces, states and territories) do not themselves wholly depict this gay world. Rather, the communities and milieux are bound as the links of a chain, through often invisible networks of gay information, publishing, support services, recreation, leisure, unique artifacts and cultural materials. Many of these links exist world wide, traversing international customs, languages, traditions, legal systems, and concrete borders. These links show both variegation and similarity but most are based upon a unique fusion and specific unity, forged by a common prism of homosexual and gay oppression, identity, cu1ture, ideology, and more recently, a still emerging sense of gay identity. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Judicial Protection of a Right to the Protection of Health and Favourable Environment with focus on the Region of Ostrava Abstract This diploma thesis deals with legal means of legal protection of the right to the protection of health and favourable environment with focus on the Ostrava region. The aim of this work is to map out judicial means of protection and analyze whether these means are in accordance with their purpose of ensuring the protection of persons against interference with their rights and the public interest in protection of health and the environment. The main methods used in this diploma thesis were the research of legal literature, case law of Czech and foreign courts and legal regulations. Subsequent use of synthesis and the analysis of the acquired information and the use of linguistic, systematic, logical and theological interpretative methods led to the generalization of the main and partial conclusions. This diploma thesis is divided into an introduction and a conclusion and six main chapters, some of which are further divided into subchapters and individual points. The first chapter deals with on the constitutional basis of health protection and a favourable environment. The second chapter focuses on the current condition of the environment in the Ostrava region, its causes and...

This study examines the background and qualifications of plaintiff and defense experts using the H-Index score as quantification of expert background and qualifications. The goal is to better understand the similarities and differences among the professionals offering paid expert witness testimony in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) civil litigation. In this quantitative study, descriptive statistics include the mean and standard deviation scores for the data to support examining measures of central tendency and variance, respectively. The study includes the use of logistic regression and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and their statistical assumptions were tested to determine whether they would be used or if it was more appropriate to use a non-parametric test. The study included two research questions: How do the qualifications of plaintiff and defense expert witnesses in mild traumatic brain injury civil litigation compare? and to what extent does a higher h-index correlate with a favorable litigation outcome in a mild traumatic brain injury case? The findings for the hypothesis tests associated with the research questions led to the acceptance of the null hypothesis in each test. There was a lack of asymptotic significance in Hypothesis 1 and a lack of significance in Hypothesis 2. The findings from these tests shall support the discussion of the implications of this research and the direction of future research.

This research study investigates the relationship between ambiguity, litigation risk, and auditor decision-making. In addition, this study investigates how auditor trust of his or her client may change these relationships. It is important to investigate the relationships of ambiguity, litigation risk, and client trust to auditor decision-making because auditors face these factors on a regular basis. This research uses a 2x2 experiment to investigate auditor reaction to ambiguity and litigation risk. The first factor, ambiguity is operationalized as auditor reaction to potential real transaction earnings management (low ambiguity) and potential accrual transaction earnings management (high ambiguity). The second factor, litigation risk is operationalized through an income increasing (high) or income decreasing (low) earnings management attempt. Auditors were given company background information, selected account information, and comparative financial statements and then asked to state the likelihood of material misstatement in the financial statements as a whole and the sales, selling and marketing expenses, research and development expenses, and general and administrative expenses individual accounts. The ambiguity manipulation was imbedded in the description of the research and development account while the litigation risk factor was imbedded in the comparative financial statements. The findings indicate that the subjects reported a relatively high likelihood of material misstatement of research and development expenses regardless of the earnings management method. The findings further indicate that when a real earnings management transaction was present, auditors rated the likelihood of material misstatement in sales and the financial statements as a whole higher than when an accrual earnings management transaction is present. Additionally, when the subject group is limited to individuals working for Big-4 and National non Big-4 firms the auditors assessed the likelihood of material misstatement in the financial statements as a whole, sales, selling and marketing expenses, and general and administrative expenses significantly higher when a real earnings management transaction is present than when an accrual earnings management transaction is present. The lawsuit risk factor was not found to be significant in any of the primary analyses. The research also explores the relationship between an auditor's trust of the client and the likelihood of material misstatement assessment. Auditors completed the Kerler and Killough trust scale to measure trust of the experimental client. The findings report that as external auditor experience increases, auditor trust of the client decreases. However, this decrease in trust does not significantly affect the likelihood of material misstatement assessment. This research study is the first step in developing an understanding of the relationship between ambiguity, risk, trust, and auditor decision-making. The findings indicate that auditors do use information about potential earnings management in one account when evaluating the likelihood of material misstatements in other accounts. Future research should develop an understanding about whether auditors should take these factors into consideration in the planning stages of the audit. / Ph. D.