The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 on the federal civil service through the establishment of the Merit Systems Protection Board. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 was designed to correct many of the abuses which existed under the Civil Service Commission related to appeals procedures and inefficiency within the federal government. The majority of data collected for this study were obtained from the Dallas field office of the Merit Systems Protection Board, which covers approximately 275,000 federal employees in a five-state area. Additional data, related to all of the regional field offices of the Merit Systems Protection Board, were obtained from Washington, D.C. Two research tools were used to collect data from the Dallas field office: a questionnaire and a personal interview. Three hypotheses were examined. Hypothesis I stated that the creation of the Merit Systems Protection Board has not given presiding officials any additional authority to handle or decide adverse action cases brought within their jurisdiction. Hypothesis II stated that the length of time needed to process adverse action cases has not decreased since the creation of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Hypothesis III stated that the creation of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 has made no difference in the number of adverse action cases brought by federal employees against federal agencies.

No description available.

In a time when record numbers of dollars are being spent on campaigns the unregulated dollars are flowing faster than ever. Hundreds of millions of dollars in independent expenditures are being used for “issue advocacy”, print and broadcast advertising, which does not expressly endorse or oppose a candidate for office. The one-time campaign finance ceiling has become the campaign finance basement. Individuals are able to give unlimited dollars to 527 organizations, which function outside of all campaign finance regulation and provide a new path for the flow of political dollars. Since the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, commonly known as the McCain-Feingold Act, federally regulated lobbyists and PACS are being edged out of the political dollar due to contribution limits. It is in 1996 that we witness the birth of 527 organizations and the flourishing growth of soft money spending in the campaign process.

The specific provision of welfare reform disqualifying legal immigrants from social security, did not materialize due to several developments.

The aim of this study is to address the proposition that the spirituality of L'Arche has a great deal of potential to offer people with learning disabilities outside its own community setting. For chaplains who have the task of seeking to nurture and develop the spiritual lives of people with learning disabilities in schools, there exists the opportunity to draw out the fundamental characteristics of the spirituality of L'Arche and incorporate these into their own formation programs. The opportunity to be creative and imaginative in developing formation programs comes from within the context of legislation which requires schools to meet the spiritual needs of the children in their care. / Christian Spirituality / M. Th. (Christian Spirituality)

知識經濟時代，智慧財產權已經成為公司經營的策略重點，不再只是著重於法律與科技等構面，觸角更擴張為經營管理、商業競爭、企業併購、財務規劃與驅策新事業的重要工具。新的專利侵權原告（The New Breed of Patent Infringement Plaintiffs）便趁此一熱潮悄然誕生，美國稱之為「Patent Troll」，其不為營運研發、純粹在全球購買專利，以創造利潤與策略佈局考量為主，挾著專利持有人的地位大張旗鼓尋找「交易」對象，以訴訟為手段作為談判的籌碼，到處發警告函以獲取權利金。「Patent Troll」不僅在法律制度上引發爭議，更提高企業在智財管理方面的困難度，其對專利體系上的影響是全面性的。 本文第一章主要說明本論文之研究動機，包含專利訴訟新趨勢、新的商業營運模式，以及順應而生的「Patent Troll」之情形，闡述其所造成與被授權人間議價能力失衡之現象，接著闡述其對交易關係的影響以及美國法上相應適用的法律原則之變化，最後針對台灣的現況做一說明並向企業提出策略上之建議。 第二章蒐集並整理國內外與「Patent Troll」相關問題的爭議及探討。首先針對智慧財產服務業(IP Service Corporation)及智財控股公司(IP Holding Company)等名詞作一基本介紹。次對「Patent Troll」之名詞、定義、由來及分類做一整理介紹，接著說明「Patent Troll」之特徵、功能及商業模式。最後則針對各方文獻對於專利管理流程以及企業營運策略等建議做一整理分析。 第三章針對「Patent Troll」此一名詞做全面性的介紹與探討。首先對「Patent Troll」的定義、名詞爭議、發展歷史及與類似名詞的區辨為一概括式的介紹，本文將「Patent Troll」定名為「專利地痞」，並認為分析特徵可歸納為下列七項，只有當七項特徵都符合時才是本文所指涉之專利地痞：（一）為專利權人的個人、獨立發明人或公司；（二）藉由購買專利（如MercExchange）或進行技術創新(如Lemelson)；（三）不製造生產產品；（四）非提供專利服務；（五）鎖定目標公司（Target Company）：該目標公司必須是獨立發明製造技術，真正使用該專利，欠缺專利授權，在商業上成功，並且出現且已投入不可回復的損害；（六）以訴訟與禁制令作為要脅；（七）以達和解授權以獲取權利金等創造利潤及策略布局。接著說明「Patent Troll」的分類，以掌握其可能存在的不同態樣，本文將專利地痞分類為「發明型」專利地痞」，以及「購買型」專利地痞。然後就其特徵、優勢及商業模式加以闡述，歸納出一些共通的特徵，本文認為專利地痞的商業模式可以分成下列幾個步驟，第一階段為累積專利期，第二階段為授權協商期，第三階段則為專利訴訟期。各階段之間有其前後順序，並且環環相扣，除了第一階段需投入成本外，另外兩個階段均以創造利益為最終目的。最後再就全球各主要國家關於「Patent Troll」的現況進行討論並提出結論，以此部分的撰寫與結論作為第四張及第五章關於法律面與管理面相關議題批評檢討的基礎。 第四章探討「Patent Troll」在美國法上涉及的相關法律爭議問題，期以此觀察緣起環境變遷的方式了解國內外法制環境的差異，並定位台灣在此一進程中所處之發展位置，以解析台灣關於「Patent Troll」此議題重視之必要與否以及應該採取的態度與方法。首先以美國法上針對「Patent Troll」此一議題在行政、立法和司法的變革為引，帶出此一議題影響層面的全面性。次專注於美國法上關於立法上「專利改革法案」對於解決「Patent Troll」問題所做的努力，如前已提及之專利先申請原則、專利侵權損害賠償計算基礎、惡意侵權損害賠償、專利核可後非經訴訟程序的異議制度（Post-Grant Opposition）和專利侵權訴訟管轄權等。接著以法院判決的變化演進，如前述主要提及之2006年eBay v. MercExchange一案中對於禁制令核發原則的確立、2007年KSR v. Teleflex一案中對於可專利性原則（Patentability）的解釋運用，2007年MedImmune,Inc. v. Genentech一案對於確認判決（Declaratory Judgment）行使範圍的解釋。2007年Microsoft v. AT&T 針對域外效力（Extraterritorial Impact）的確立，以及2007年In re Seagate一案對於惡意侵權(Willful Infringement)的認定等。最後針對個別修正法案或法院判決的變遷對專利地痞的影響做一說明。 第五章提出企業面對「Patent Troll」此一威脅時所能採取的因應策略。將以第三章所分析之專利地痞商業模式三步驟為本，針對專利地痞行使各該步驟時，企業可能採取的因應策略。第一階段的累積專利期，包含有專利資訊管理、專利購買與公司併購、延攬IP專業人才、保險分擔機制與提撥準備金、技術創新設計、專利交叉授權、專利策略聯盟、契約條款規劃和其他新型態的因應策略等；第二階段的授權協商期，包含有專利評估、和解授權，確認訴訟；第三階段的侵權訴訟期，則有專利訴訟程序、侵權認定程序、善用迴避設計、提出異議制度、提出專利再審查、慎選繫屬法院，以及採取團體訴訟以資因應等。期以一相關流程使企業得以瞭解其現階段落在何種情況時應採取何策略始得降低風險並妥善因應。 第六章為本論文之結論建議，結論部份，將前述第三章、第四章和第五章所提出之觀點作一概括性的總結。建議部分，即就我國產官學各界及現行法制面對「Patent Troll」問題可能適用之解決方式加以檢討並提出建議。 / In the knowledge-based economy era, intellectual property has become the focus of business management strategy. The concerns of intellectual property management extend from law and technology to management, market competitions, mergers and acquisitions, financial plans, and start-ups. The trends also bring forth a new breed of patent infringement plaintiffs, Patent Troll, who do not undertake R&D and purchase patents worldwide as their main profit and business strategy. Those patentees utilize litigation as measures to bargain with their “clients” to obtain loyalties. The issue of Patent Troll is influential in the Patent system. It rouses controversy in legal system and increase difficulty for industry in intellectual property management. Chapter I describes the main concern of this thesis, including new trends of patent litigation, new business model, and “Patent Troll.” The chapter will elaborate an imbalance of bargaining power between licensors and licensees cause by patent troll, the influences of patent troll to IP transactions, and the changes of legal principles under U.S. patent law and judicial decisions. The chapter will outline the current situation in Taiwan and propose some strategy to industries. Chapter II involves relating issues on "Patent Troll" in Taiwan and abroad. First, the chapter will introduce the definition of IP Service Corporation and IP Holding Company. Then the chapter will elaborates and discuss patent troll from the name, definition, classification, origin, features, functions and business models. At last, this chapter will analyze the patent managerial process and operating strategies for the industries. Chapter III focuses on a comprehensive introduction towards patent troll. First, the article elaborates the disputes on the definition, the term, the history and the differences between similar terms of patent troll. A Patent troll should meet all the following seven characteristics, (a) patent owner/independent inventor/company; (b) Compare purchase of rights (MercExchange for example) vs. invention (Lemelson for example); (c) Does not Make, Use, Sell, Offer to Sell, Or Import Patented Article/ Does not Use/Practice Patented Method; (d) no IP Service; (e) Target company (infringer): The target company must be an independent inventor of the technology, has real use of the patent, lacks of patent license, has successful business and devotes substantial investments; (f)Threat of litigation & Injunction; (g) Demand for licensing fee. Then the article describes the classification of patent troll in order to grasp the potential types of it. Patent troll in this chapter will be classified as "inventor" one and "purchaser" one. The business model of patent troll can be divided into three stages: (a) cumulative period ;(b) licensing and consolation period and (c) patent litigation period. The three stages are of time sequence and closely linked together. The “Patent Troll” needs to invest money only in the first stage and take profit creation as the ultimate goal in the other two stages. Finally, the chapter describes and discusses the developments and current status of patent troll in some major countries in the world. The observation and discussion will be served as the foundation for further discussion in the following chapters. Chapter IV focuses on the legal principle changes under U.S. patent system in three dimensions: administration, legislation and jurisdiction and illustrates the effects that occur to patent troll. The changes of administration focus on three parts: the limitation of continuation application, the limitation of divisional application and the limitation of claims. In legislation, the changes focus on “Patent Law Reform Act”, including the first-to-invent to first-to-file principle, the calculation basis of damages, enhanced damages, post grant review procedure, and venue and jurisdiction. The changes of jurisdiction focus on five verdicts and cases, eBay v. MercExchange, KSR v. Teleflex, MedImmune, Inc. V. Genentech, Microsoft v. AT & T, and In re Seagate. The chapter will elaborate the influences of those changes and decisions on the business model of patent troll. Chapter V proposes some possible solutions and strategies to industries when they are confronted with the threats of patent troll. This thesis takes the three stages of patent troll’s business model as a foundation and proposes the strategies for industries against patent troll during different stages. The strategies for first stage are IP information management, patent purchase, mergers and acquisitions of companies, IP professionals recruitment, insurance mechanism, technology R&D, patent cross-licensing, patent alliances, contract planning and other new types of strategies and so on. The strategies for the second stage include patent evaluation, authorization of reconciliation and declaratory judgment. The strategies in the third stage are patent litigation, infringement procedures, patent design around, patent re-examination, choose of venue and jurisdiction and group litigation. The thesis expect to enable industries to understand what stage they fall on and what strategies they can adopt, with the proposal of management procedure. Chapter VI will be the conclusions of this thesis and will include suggestions on the issue of patent troll to industries, government and academia.

近年來在美國有一種”新興產業”崛起，部份非專利權實施者NPE，專門尋找實際生產商品或提供服務的知名企業為對象，以提出專利侵權訴訟的方式，加上持有法院核發之禁制令，威脅被告以達到強迫授權或合解的目的，一般稱之為「Patent Trolls」。 按專利制度的二大政策目標，一為提供發明人發明的誘因，一為鼓勵發明人揭露其發明技術內容，而Patent Trolls投機性授權模式所造成的問題，是否會破壞專利法之立法目的，而降低企業投資創新研發的誘因，乃值得觀注且為有待解決的議題。 故本文之主要目的乃從美國與台灣之專利改革與實務判決，探討Patent Trolls之解決之道。 / Recently there is a “new industry” in the U.S., some NPEs brought patent infringement suits against famous enterprises, which manufacture product or supply service and threatened with injunction, commonly called “Patent Trolls”. Among the two policy objects of patent law, one is giving the inducement to invent, the other is encourage inventors to disclose their inventions. Whether the problems caused by the opportunistic licensing models of Patent Trolls would cause damage to the object of patent law and decrease the driving force to invent of the enterprises is an issue worth observing and solving. Consequently, the object of this thesis is to discuss the solution of the Patent Trolls issues in light of Patent Reform and cases in the U.S. and Taiwan.

懲罰性賠償金為英美法傳統下之制度，其目的在於以超越實際損害數額之賠償金，制裁主觀惡性程度特別重大之侵權人，與一般用以填補損害之補償性賠償金有本質上之差異。昔日多適用於被害人尊嚴遭嚴重侵犯之案件，然隨現代經濟社會之發展，亦漸用於處罰公司法人、制裁經濟犯罪。 我國侵權行為法主要繼受德國之體系，以損害填補為原則，故僅於特定領域之立法中承認懲罰性賠償金制度。現行專利法採取懲罰性賠償金之立法例，而目前經濟部之修法草案則擬廢除。 本研究首先介紹美國法發展趨勢、實務重要案例與晚近之專利改革法案，歸納其趨勢為「嚴格限制故意侵權之構成、提高專利權人舉證責任、限縮懲罰性賠償金之適用範圍」；其次，以實證方式分析台灣智慧財產法院歷年相關之判決結果，認為實務運作有「大多數請求懲罰性賠償金之案例，連侵權責任都尚未構成，有請求浮濫、逼迫被告和解之嫌」、「法院認定侵權人故意，實質上往往僅論及侵權人『知悉系爭專利存在』即可，相較於現行法標準實過於寬鬆」；最後，綜合美國法發展趨勢、我國實務情形、懲罰性賠償金功能論與法律經濟分析觀點，認為我國尚不宜廢除專利侵權懲罰性賠償金制度，惟應將其限縮適用於「搭便車」與「專利有效性毋需再確認」之故意侵權情形，以降低社會研發成本、賦與從事研發者挑戰垃圾專利之機會，方切合專利法促進研發之本旨。 / Punitive damages, a traditional system under the common law, aims to sanction those infringers having substantially subjective malice by awarding enhanced damages beyond the actual damages. It is naturally different from compensatory damages. Punitive damages were originally used to dealing with serious violations of the victims’ dignity of the cases. With the development of economic society, this system was gradually used to punishing corporations and sanctioning economic crimes. Since Taiwanese tort laws are mainly inherited from German laws, which only permit plaintiffs claiming for compensatory damages. Punitive damages were only adopted in several specific kinds of tort laws, as in the patent law. However, the provision of punitive damages was revoked in the current patent reform act drafted by Ministry of Economic Affairs. This study starts out by introducing the trend of American law, the essential practical cases, and the recent patent reform acts. It concludes the trend to have the following three characteristics: 1. Strictly limit the constitution of willful infringement; 2. Increase patentee’s burden of proof; and 3. Restrict the scope of awarding punitive damages. The study then empirically analyzes the related judgments of Taiwan Intellectual Property Count over the years. It finds that in majority of the cases claiming punitive damages, most plaintiffs can even not to prove that defendants have infringed their patents, yet force defendants to settle. Also, the court in Taiwan usually award patentees punitive damages loosely only if they can prove that infringers had known the existence of the patent . This phenomenon makes the standard in practice not strict as the standard in law. Lastly, this study sums up the aspects from the development trend of American patent law, current practice in Taiwan, the theory of punitive damages function, and economic analysis of law, and finds that it would be inappropriate to revoke the provision of punitive damages in patent infringement cases. This study suggests that punitive damages should be awarded only in two types of willful infringement: 1. when the defendant is a “free rider, or 2. when the validity of the patent need not be challenged anymore. This way, it may lower the cost of research and development, give developers more chance to challenge junk patents, and finally reach the purpose of patent law – encourage innovation.

他國低估匯率造成貿易嚴重扭曲問題近年來越發受到重視，而美國國會為解決主要貿易對手國長期壓抑匯率以提升出口競爭力，導致美國貿易赤字不斷上升之問題，遂陸續提出諸多匯率改革相關法案，期望以具體之制裁手段防止他國持續刻意壓低匯率。 本文先以美國現行法案──1988年匯率與國際經濟政策協調法案作為出發點，探討美國現行法案之不足，以點出美國國會為何認為有於後續改革法案中加入制裁手段之必要，並得出2010年公平貿易貨幣改革法案與2011年貨幣匯率監督改革法案此二法案所提倡之將他國根本性匯率低估或匯率失調情形視為可課徵平衡稅之補貼，為國會多數支持之手段。再以經濟學及國際貿易法學之分析連貫後續討論：匯率低估是否等同對進口課徵關稅並對出口提供補貼？2010年公平貿易貨幣改革法案與2011年貨幣匯率監督改革法案欲將他國根本性匯率低估或匯率失調情形視為可課徵平衡稅之補貼，是否符合WTO有關補貼之規範？前者以Staiger及Sykes兩位學者使用之兩國兩財模型作為討論主軸，後者則以補貼三要件──「財務補助」、「受有利益」及「特定性」加以檢驗。最後皆得出匯率低估僅在特定之情況下始可能構成補貼之結論。 惟在研究過程中，本文發現若僅單憑國際貿易法學之角度去解析匯率低估是否構成補貼，將受法律文字之主觀影響而導致某些謬誤產生。為解決此一問題，本文乃提出以經濟學之分析輔佐國際貿易法裁決之建議，以期能提升國際貿易法裁決之客觀性與公平性。 / The serious trade distortion problem caused by currency undervaluation has given rise to more and more attention. The United States also faces the increasing trade deficit problem caused by some major trading partners that manipulate the value of their currencies in relation to the United States dollar to gain export competitive advantage. The U.S. Congress thus brings up many currency exchange rate reform acts, hoping to use the specific sanction policies to prevent other countries from intentionally depressing exchange rates consistently. This article starts from the U.S. currency act in force──Exchange Rates and International Economic Policy Coordination Act of 1988 to discover the insufficiency in order to point out why the U.S. Congress consider it necessary to put the sanction policies in follow-up currency reform acts. We then conclude that the policies that brought up by "Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (2010)" and "Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011" to deem the "fundamentally undervalued currency" or "misaligned currency" as contervailable subsidies come out in favor of the majority of the U.S. Congress. Follow up we use the analysis of the economies and international trade laws to link the following discussion: is the currency undervaluation equals to import tariffs and export subsidies? Are the policies that deem the "fundamentally undervalued currency" or "misaligned currency" as contervailable subsidies consistent with the WTO’s subsidy regulations? The former one is discussed with the "two countries and two goods model" brought up by Staiger and Sykes while the latter one is examined by three elements: "financial contribution", "benefits" and "specific". The answers are both that the currency undervaluation will be contervailable subsidy in some very specific cases. However, during this research, we find out that if just use the view of international trade laws to analyze whether the currency undervaluation is a contervailable subsidy, we may be affected by the literalism and make mistakes. To solve this problem, we recommend that using the analysis of economies to support the ruling of international trade laws, hoping to increase the objectivity and fairness.

The aim of this study is to address the proposition that the spirituality of L'Arche has a great deal of potential to offer people with learning disabilities outside its own community setting. For chaplains who have the task of seeking to nurture and develop the spiritual lives of people with learning disabilities in schools, there exists the opportunity to draw out the fundamental characteristics of the spirituality of L'Arche and incorporate these into their own formation programs. The opportunity to be creative and imaginative in developing formation programs comes from within the context of legislation which requires schools to meet the spiritual needs of the children in their care. / Christian Spirituality / M. Th. (Christian Spirituality)