Thesis title: Enforcement of rights in industrial property This thesis deals with issues of enforcement of rights in industrial property and its aim is, first, to provide a full picture of means to enforce intellectual property rights (with particular emphasis on current legislation) and, second, to analyze the Law No. 221/2006 Coll., on the enforcement of industrial property rights in more detail with jurisprudence and scientific literature. The first method of this thesis, which was chosen, is a scientific description which allows mapping single areas of enforcement of rights in industrial property. The second method, which was chosen, is an analytical method which allows examining the Law on the enforcement of industrial property rights. This thesis is structured into five single chapters, which are themselves broken down into subchapters, sections and subsections. First chapter examines issues of intellectual property rights in general terms and interprets the principal definitions regarding these rights. Second chapter is dedicated to a full picture of legislation at the international and national level and at the level of the EU. Third chapter deals with the different areas of public enforcement of industrial property rights. Fourth chapter deals with the different areas of private...

Magister Philosophiae (Land and Agrarian Studies) - MPhil(LAS) / Fast track land reform in Zimbabwe has caused a raging debate drawing a lot of attention to the re-distribution programme. The invasion of commercial farms had a bearing on agricultural production, food security, security of tenure, rule of law and respect for property rights. This thesis examines the implications of such a frayed land reform resulting in strained donor and government relations. The crux of the argument is that land reform is harmful and damaging when the rule of law is flouted, directly impacting on social and power relations at grassroots level. These strained relations result from a lack of commitment by government, external donors and white commercial farmers to correct land injustices from the colonial period and ineffective agencies of restraint. This thesis will test these perceptions and views basing on the experiences of the grassroots people. It will also attempt to test whether the land question in Zimbabwe has finally been resolved or there are still aspects to it that need attention, since land reform is often viewed in moral and political terms. Was poverty alleviation prioritized in fast track land reform by giving land to the landless poor; to help redress population imbalances or meant to reward those who struggled for liberation? The thesis attempts to answer the question of ‘equity’ or restructuring of access over production and ownership of land. It then questions the equity trump card as touted by the government. Did the government commit another injustice while trying to redress past injustices by overlooking the rightful claimants in favour of entrenching state power? This thesis contributes to the raging debate on fast track land reform in Zimbabwe, using the case study of UMguza resettlement scheme.

This research investigates, using the New Institutional Economics theories of property rights and transaction cost, two interrelated problems. Firstly, the question of whether real estate markets in the urban informal settlements of Namibia could be used to alleviate poverty or, to put it differently, create wealth. The second problem relates to the question of whether specific forms of property rights matter for engendering pro-poor outcomes in real estate markets and, if so, what form these are likely to take. Corresponding to these questions are two working hypotheses respectively. Firstly, it is hypothesised that real estate is a significant asset held by the urban poor in Namibia and that there is potential for capital accumulation by trading up in real estate markets. Secondly it is hypothesised that, by affecting the incentive structure of, and transaction costs in real estate markets, systems of property rights affect market outcomes, thus ultimately determining whether these markets may be efficacious for poverty alleviation. The study employs the comparative institutional methodological approach in a case study framework to examine effects of three types of property rights regimes on low income real estate markets in settlements located on Windhoek’s periphery. The main empirical data for the study were collected by means of a questionnaire survey of 440 households in two settlements called Goreangab and Okahandja Park respectively. This survey was supplemented by 14 unstructured interviews with selected respondents and by key-informant interviews with officials from the Windhoek City Council (WCC), the Namibian Housing Action Group (NHAG), and the Namibian Housing Enterprises (NHE). The study finds that real estate is indeed a major asset held by the respondents. The study finds that, while there are robust rental markets for rooms and backyard structures, there is very limited sale activity. The study also finds that in the absence of formal property rights, social networks and hierarchical organisations rather than impersonal markets provide the institutional structure to transaction activity. It is found that the degree of formality of property rights correlates to perception of security, that property rights affect investment in housing and that property rights (to some extent) affects the degree of market activity. The study therefore concludes that while not insignificant gains are to be had from rental markets, there is at present limited potential to derive benefits from sale markets in Namibia due to a lack of trading activity. The first hypothesis is thus only partially confirmed. It is also concluded that while social networks guarantee access to urban land for the poor, they tend to lock them in enclaves of ethnic and kinship relations, inhibiting the development of wider, impersonal markets argued to be necessary for capital accumulation. Further, it is concluded that formal property rights create incentives for investment and therefore matter for capital accumulation, but that they are not necessarily accessible to the poor. The second hypothesis, that property rights affect market outcomes, is substantially confirmed. Overall the study concludes that there is good potential for leveraging real estate markets in Namibia’s (and other developing countries’) informal settlements for capital accumulation but that these need to be primed first. This means deliberate interventions with the aim of bringing about increased trading activity. In this regard specific proposals have been made for policy intervention in three key areas, namely, the creation of appropriate property rights systems, together with supporting organisational infrastructure, the expansion of physical infrastructure and the building of shared understanding and trust in urban communities. The study makes a number of key contributions to knowledge about the relationship between real estate markets and poverty alleviation in the area of theory, methodology, policy and empirical data. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Construction Economics / unrestricted

Economic development through the exploitation of natural resources has led to biodiversity loss among other environmental issues around the world. The use of biodiversity offsets to balance economic development and biodiversity conservation goals has significantly increased during the last three decades. A recent report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released in December of 2016 identified at least 56 countries with laws or policies requiring the use of these types of instruments worldwide. There are over 100 biodiversity offset programs operating in countries such as United States of America, France, New Zealand, Mexico, Australia and others, which are injecting over 3 USD billion per year into the world’s economy. Experiences of different jurisdictions indicate that biodiversity offsets can become a promising tool in addressing the biodiversity loss issue in their territories. Canada and some of its provinces such as Alberta and British Columbia, which have important oil and gas sectors, and are home to important wildlife species, have been part of the biodiversity offsets debate, and have been exploring their use. This research derives from the observation that although some of the international biodiversity offset experiences have been vastly studied, there is little experience analyzing the legal challenges of implementing biodiversity offset systems, including biodiversity banks (a type of biodiversity offset that creates biodiversity markets) on public lands. The very nature of public land, where multiple users may simultaneously access the land and conduct a variety of potentially incompatible activities, can create extra legal challenges with respect to the implementation of biodiversity offsets. Through an Alberta-focused case study, the thesis explores the characteristics that a planning and legal framework of a province with a majority of public lands would need to have in order to support the use of biodiversity offsets and a biodiversity banking system. It also identifies and analyzes the legal issues and challenges of implementing long lasting biodiversity offsets in that context. Under the system studied by this dissertation, the main users of Alberta’s public forests (forest operators and oil and gas developers) become the biodiversity bankers or suppliers, and buyers of biodiversity credits, respectively. This thesis is therefore a contribution to knowledge about how biodiversity offsets, specifically biodiversity banks, can be applied on provincial public lands, used by multiple users. It focuses on the legal frameworks, property right issues, permanence, and additionality needed for a potential biodiversity banking system for a province such as Alberta.

This theses analyses necessity and legitimacy of existence of intellectual property rights, especially patents and copyrights. There is shown the true essence of these instruments as monopoly privilege. On case of information technology I demonstrate that these privileges are unreasonable and counterproductive in many cases. Analysis of ?free software? alternative model proves that use of patents and copyrights is not a necessary condition of creation of intangible goods. The last part of this work shows, that existence of any special instruments for intangible goods protection is not needed as well as it is not reasonable.

L’objet de cette thèse est d’expliquer le lien entre utilisation de marques et activités innovantes. Le premier chapitre décrit les principaux aspects juridiques des marques et passe en revue la littérature en économie et gestion s’y rapportant. Le second chapitre analyse comment et pourquoi les firmes utilisent les marques et comment celles-ci s’intègrent dans leurs activités innovantes. À travers une approche théorique et empirique, nous montrons que les marques sont utilisées en lien avec les innovations prenant place à l’interface du marché, principalement les innovations de produit et de marketing. Le troisième chapitre étudie les interactions entre marques et brevets dans la protection de l’innovation. Nous montrons que selon les caractéristiques du marché ils peuvent se complémenter ou se substituer l’un à l’autre. Dans le dernier chapitre, nous explorons les schémas d’utilisation de marques par les universités et leur lien avec les activités de recherche de ces institutions. / This thesis aims at explaining the link between trade mark use and innovative activities. The first chapter describes the main legal aspects of trade marks and reviews existing literature in economics and management relating to them. The second chapter analyses how and why firms use trade marks and how they integrate them in their innovative activities. Through a theoretical and empirical approach, we show that trade marks are used in relation to innovations which are at the interface of the market, mainly product and marketing innovations. The third chapter then studies the interrelated effect of trade marks and patents in the protection of innovation. We show that depending on market characteristics, they may complement or substitute each other. In the fourth and final chapter, we explore the patterns of trade mark use by academic institutions, and investigate how these relate to their research activities.

The implementation of nature conservation as a land use form is characterized by persistent conflicts and low acceptance by landowners and other users of the considered land area. The thesis applies an economic approach that is understood as the consideration of opportunities and problems of social interaction that aims at mutual benefits (Homann 2002: 63; Homann & Suchanek 2005: 4). Nature conservation is treated as a normal economic good that is demanded and supplied. Human action and human choices regarding the good "nature conservation" can be explained and predicted when including the structure of the exchange and transfer of property rights for nature conservation. The property rights perspective on nature conservation demonstrates an unambiguous understanding of the rights individuals are willing to abandon for demanding and supplying nature conservation. The successful implementation of different aims and strategies of nature conservation requires different property rights. The loss of the right to choose other alternatives implies subjective costs (Knight 1924: 592f.; Buchanan 1981: 14) that cannot be reduced to pecuniary units and landowners. This approach broadens the understanding of the term "costs" related to nature conservation. Different organizational and institutional arrangements can be found in practical nature conservation. Both, the demand for and the supply of nature conservation is organized either individually or collectively. Property rights for the good “nature conservation” are either exchanged voluntarily or involuntarily by applying takings and eminent domain. The application of the methodological individualism, the homo economicus and microeconomic theory, allows to elaborate a simple model of individual demand and supply of one property right that is allocated to nature conservation. This model excludes transaction costs, considers only one normal economic good - “nature conservation”. The analysis demonstrates the outcomes, which can be expected when aggregating these individual demand and supply curves within two different organizations. A vertical aggregation represents the process of choice-making within politics in a direct democracy. A horizontal aggregation illustrates the determination of choices within a market. The analysis includes all possible institutional and organizational arrangements. The results reveal the quantity and quality of implemented nature conservation and the expected relation between available and required budgets. It is highlighted, how susceptible collective outcomes are to changing expenditure and revenue sharing systems and voting rules. When making collective choices, only one revenue and expenditure sharing system exists that allows a unanimously chosen quantity of nature conservation. These specific sharing systems are different when considering different collectives. Only voluntary exchanges ensure mutual benefits and a balanced budget. I can show that the institution of takings increases conflicts and reduce the acceptance for implementing nature conservation. A preference order of the considered institutional arrangements is revealed. The majority of the analyzed arrangements allows unambiguous expectations on the quantity and quality of the implemented nature conservation. The discussion justifies the chosen economic approach for examining problems of social interaction within nature conservation. Furthermore, the application of the elaborated model to representative democratic systems is discussed. The thesis closes with examples of the current and expected future development of practical nature conservation. These cases are discussed in the light of the elaborated model and the analysis' results. The present thesis offers an explanation of past and present processes and outcomes in nature conservation and a support for making expectations on the constellation of actors and their acceptance regarding future strategies in practical nature conservation. / Die Umsetzung von Naturschutz als Landnutzungsform ist durch beständige Konflikte und niedrige Akzeptanz durch Landeigentümer und andere Landnutzer gekennzeichnet. Die Arbeit verwendet einen ökonomischen Ansatz. Sie betrachtet Möglichkeiten und Probleme sozialer Interaktion, die auf gegenseitigen Nutzen abzielt (Homann 2002: 63; Homann & Suchanek 2005: 4). Naturschutz wird als normales ökonomisches Gut betrachtet. Dieses wird durch interagierende Individuen angeboten und nachgefragt. Das individuelle Handeln und Entscheiden in Bezug auf "Naturschutz" kann durch das Einbeziehen von Verfügungsrechten, welche bei dem Tausch ausgetauscht und übertragen werden, beschrieben und vorhergesagt werden. Die verfügungsrechtliche Betrachtung von Naturschutz ermöglicht ein eindeutiges Verständnis auf jene Rechte, auf die Individuen verzichten würden, um Naturschutz nachzufragen und anzubieten. Die erfolgreiche Umsetzung der unterschiedlichen Naturschutzziele und –strategien erfordert ein Eigentum an unterschiedlichen Verfügungsrechten. Der Verlust des Rechtes, eine Alternative zu wählen, verursacht subjektive Kosten (Knight 1924: 592f.; Buchanan 1981: 14), welche nicht auf Geldeinheiten und nicht auf Landeigentümer begrenzt werden können. Dieser Ansatz erweitert das Verständnis von Kosten in Bezug auf Naturschutz. Unterschiedliche organisatorische und institutionelle Arrangements sind im praktischen Naturschutz zu finden. Nachfrage und Angebot können jeweils individuell oder kollektiv organisiert sein. Verfügungsrechte für das Gut „Naturschutz“ werden entweder freiwillig oder erzwungen - durch Konfiskation und Enteignung getauscht. Die Anwendung des methodologischen Individualismus, des Konzeptes des Homo Economicus und mikroökonomischer Theorie, erlaubt die Entwicklung eines simplen Modells des individuellen Angebots und der individuellen Nachfrage nach Verfügungsrechten für Naturschutz. Dieses Modell schließt Transaktionskosten aus und betrachtet ausschließlich ein normales ökonomisches Gut – Naturschutz. Die Analyse zeigt die zu erwartenden Ergebnisse auf, wenn die individuelle Nachfrage und das individuelle Angebot durch zwei unterschiedliche Organisationen aggregiert werden. Eine vertikale Aggregation verdeutlicht eine politische Wahlhandlung innerhalb einer direkten Demokratie. Eine horizontale Aggregation repräsentiert die Wahl innerhalb eines Marktes. Die Analyse beinhaltet alle Kombinationen der unterschiedlichen institutionellen und organisatorischen Arrangements für die Bereitstellung des Gutes "Naturschutz". Die Ergebnisse dieser Analyse zeigen (1) die zu erwartende Quantität und Qualität des durchgeführten Naturschutzes und (2) das zu erwartende Verhältnis zwischen dem verfügbaren und dem notwendigen Budget auf. Zusätzlich wird die Empfindlichkeit kollektiver Entscheidungsergebnisse gegenüber sich verändernden Abstimmungsregeln und Teilungsregeln von Ausgaben und Einnahmen herausgearbeitet. Bei kollektiven Wahlhandlungen existiert nur jeweils eine Ausgaben- und Einnahmenteilung, die eine einstimmige Wahl einer Menge von Naturschutz ermöglicht. Diese Teilungsregel variiert zwischen unterschiedlichen Kollektiven. Ausschließlich ein freiwilliger Tausch sichert gegenseitige Vorteile und ein ausgeglichenes Budget. Weiterhin zeige ich auf, dass die Institution Konfiskation die Konflikte mit Landnutzern erhöht und deren Akzeptanz für die Umsetzung von Naturschutz reduziert. Eine Präferenzordnung für die verschiedenen Institutionen wird erarbeitet. Der Großteil der analysierten institutionellen und organisatorischen Arrangements erlaubt eindeutige Aussagen über die Quantität und Qualität des praktizierten Naturschutzes. Die Diskussion begründet die gewählte ökonomische Methode zur Untersuchung von Interaktionsproblemen des Naturschutzes. Weiterhin wird die Anwendbarkeit des erarbeiteten Modells für repräsentative Demokratien erörtert. Die Arbeit schließt mit Beispielen der aktuellen und künftig zu erwartenden praktischen Naturschutzarbeit. Diese Beispiele werden anhand des Modells und der Analyseergebnisse diskutiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit bietet ein Erklärungsmodell für vergangene und gegenwärtige Entwicklungen und Ergebnisse im praktischen Naturschutz. Sie stellt eine Unterstützung für die realistische Einschätzung von Akteurskonstellationen und deren Akzeptanz von zukünftigen Implementierungsansätzen von Naturschutz dar.

The dissertation comprises of two chapters that use applied econometric techniques to analyze policy related questions that have implications for educational outcomes and one chapter that assesses factors that influence foreign direct investment inflows. In the first chapter I study the impact of equity premiums on the completion numbers of minority students. In the second chapter I assess the impact that state funding cuts for higher education may have on completion numbers across racial and ethnic lines. For the last chapter I study the relationship between intellectual property rights and foreign direct investmentFor chapter one, I study the impact that equity premiums inclusion in performance-based funding models have on the completion numbers of minority students. Using a combination of administrative data over the period 2004 to 2018 with two-way fixed effects methods, I investigate the impact of the premiums on completion numbers of Black, Hispanic, and Native American students. My estimates show that in the short run (up to 2 years post-policy) there are no changes in the completion numbers of at-risk students in adopting and non-adopting states. Secondly, there is heterogeneity in policy effects across ethnicity, in particular Hispanic student completion numbers decrease in adopting states. Thirdly, public institutions become more selective in their admissions of at-risk students post-policy, which may lead to the overall null effects I establish. For chapter two, I investigate whether there exist variations in how state funding cuts for higher education may impact on completion numbers across racial and ethnic lines. Combining administrative data from 1997 to 2018 with two-stage least squares methodology, I test how institutional state funding instrumented by total state funding may influence completion numbers across racial categories. I find that changes in state funding have no significant impact on the completion numbers for each racial category of students. For chapter three, I extend Spatz and Nunnenkamp’s (2003) analysis by using a panel dataset to determine a causal relationship between intellectual property right (IPR) protections and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. Using a fixed-effects Poisson model my results shows that IPR is a causal determinant of FDI within the manufacturing industry. My study concludes that as a country improves their IPR protections, the positive impact on FDI within the manufacturing industry, increases at a decreasing rate. / Economics

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