The Community Trade Mark in Comparison with the National Trade Mark - Focused on the Unitary Character of the Community Trade Mark and the Absolute Grounds of Refusal Abstract The Community Trade Mark system has existed since 1994 when the Community Trade Mark Regulation No. 40/94/EC was adopted. Even though the European system is younger than the national trade mark systems, one cannot say that it is a less successful system - particularly according to the number of registered Community Trademarks. The regulation of trademarks is very complex and for this reason I have decided to focus only on one part of the regulation, namely the unitary character, which represents a special characteristic of a Community Trade Mark - and further on the absolute grounds of refusal and their comparison in European and Czech trade mark law. The two systems for the registration of trademarks show considerable resemblance; however, one shall find differences, e.g. an integration of bad faith as one of the absolute grounds of refusal appearing only in the national system. The purpose of my thesis is to compare the two systems of trademarks - the Community level and the National level, and to provide readers with clear guidance regarding the general rules applicable within the registration. I will do this through an analysis...

Lors des travaux de la Commission du droit international relatifs aux actes unilatéraux des États, le rapporteur spécial a nié que le silence puisse être qualifié de manifestation de la volonté étatique. Rien dans la théorie de l’acte juridique ne justifie pourtant cette position. L’étude de la pratique révèle en outre que, selon les cas, le silence étatique peut être qualifié de refus ou d’acquiescement et qu’il joue un rôle fondamental dans la formation, l’interprétation ou la modification des rapports de droit interétatiques. En effet, dans la mesure où, en droit international, il revient aux États d’apprécier le bien-fondé ou la légalité du comportement de leurs pairs, l’objectif de la sécurité juridique impose de retenir la pertinence légale de leur silence. Cet objectif, sous ses diverses facettes, constitue la raison d’être de l’attribution d’un effet légal au silence et permet ainsi une systématisation des hypothèses très variées où il pèse sur les États une « charge de réagir ». Selon la situation face à laquelle il est appréhendé, le silence permet ainsi d’assurer la détermination actuelle ou future des rapports de droit.L’étude des conditions nécessaires à la production de l’effet attribué au silence révèle par ailleurs que le droit positif consacre la possibilité théorique d’y voir un acte juridique. Pour que son silence produise des effets, le droit international exige toujours que l’État ait été libre de réagir et qu’il ait eu connaissance de la situation qui le rendait pertinent. En outre, les régimes de la preuve de la connaissance et de l’existence du silence ne justifient pas nécessairement la dénonciation du caractère honteusement fictif de l’explication volontariste des phénomènes en cause. Il n’y a, en toute hypothèse, aucune fiction juridique à qualifier le silence en tant qu’acte juridique / . During the work of the International Law Commission regarding Unilateral Acts of States, the Special Rapporteur denied that State’s silence could be qualified as a manifestation of its will. Nevertheless,no theoretical reason justifies this position. The study of the practice reveals more over that, as the casemay be, State’s silence can be qualified as refusal or as acquiescence and that it plays a fundamental role in the formation, the interpretation or the modification of legal interstate relations. Indeed, since it is the State’s prerogative to appreciate the legality of the behavior of others States, legal certainty imposes to hold the legal relevance of their silence. Under its diverse facets, this objective constitutes the raison d’être of the effect attributed to silence and thus allows a systematization of the various hypothesis in which it is taken into account. Depending on the situation to which it reacts, silence ensures the current or future determination of legal relations. Furthermore, the study of the conditions necessary for the production of the silence’s effects reveals that positive law consecrates the theoretical possibility of qualifying silence as a legal act. International law requires, in order toattribute an effect to silence, that the silent State was free to react and had knowledge of the situation that made his silence legally relevant. Moreover, the rules governing the proof of the knowledge and of the existence of silence do not necessarily justify the criticism towards the fictive character of the voluntarist explanation of the phenomena. There is, in any event, no legal fiction in qualifying silenceas a legal act.

The making of an end of life decision represents worldwide one of the most difficult issues that physicians can be confronted with - not only should it be regarded as consisting of medical and legal aspects, but ethics and moral values are present as well. Furthermore, it shall not be supposed that the economic parameter is negligible, unfortunately even to the contrary. The fact that the decision is often made by physicians under pressure caused by a system of limited resources (and therefore it can not avoid being distorted ) must be kept in mind. At any rate , according to Czech law under which neither assisted suicide nor life termination on the request is allowed, the legality and legitimacy of withdrawal and withholding of medical treatment is based on the argument of informed consent of the patient, advanced directives and the standard of lege artis treatment. These also shall be pleaded as defences in eventual criminal proceedings.

La pénalisation est depuis longtemps la réponse privilégiée à la singulière augmentation des tromperies, abus de faiblesse, violences ou encore refus du consentement d'autrui à un contrat. Si son ampleur impressionne, cette pénalisation connaît certains travers. Les incriminations sont mal rédigées et leur construction se révèle rapidement incohérente. Mais par dessus-tout, le droit pénal paraît dans bien des cas dévoyé. Même lorsqu'elle n'est utilisée qu'à titre d'auxiliaire de disciplines ou réglementations externes, la sanction pénale répond à certaines finalités propres, au regard desquelles elle doit apparaître nécessaire et proportionnée. Ce dévoiement doit se résoudre par une certaine dépénalisation des atteintes au consentement contractuel. Pour que celle-ci n'entraîne pas une baisse de la protection des contractants, il convient de rechercher des substituts crédibles à la sanction pénale, par conséquent efficaces et adaptés au contentieux des atteintes au consentement contractuel. Il importe également que ces substituts offrent des mesures originales, sous peine de n'opérer qu'une dépénalisation purement symbolique. Cela doit conduire à écarter les sanctions administratives, au profit de la voie civile. Cette dernière doit toutefois être renforcée pour pallier les insuffisances que le droit civil présente actuellement dans la prévention et la sanction des atteintes au consentement contractuel. / Priority has long been given to criminalisation in response to the important increase in the commission of fraud, fraudulent abuse of vulnerable persons, duress, or other refusals of consent in the contractual field. Whilst the scope of this criminalisation is impressive, it also raises questions. The offences are poorly circumscribed, and their constructions turn out to be incoherent. Above all, criminal law appears in many cases diverted from its proper function. Even when criminal law is used as an auxiliary enforcement to other disciplines or external regulations, the resort to the criminal penalty follows its own ends according to which it should appear necessary and proportionate. This diversion must be resolved through a decriminalisation of refusals of consent in the contractual field. In order to avoid diminishing the protection of contractors, it is necessary to search for credible substitutes to criminal penalties, which are both effective and adapted to litigation involving the infringement of contractual consent. In order to amount to more than purely symbolic decriminalisation, these substitutes should also consist of innovative measures. Administrative sanctions must be discarded in favour of the civil law route. Civil sanctions must however be reinforced in order to overcome the existing limitations and drawbacks faced by civil law in the prevention and sanctioning of refusals of consent in the contractual field.

Contexte : Qu’ils soient parlementaires, sociétaux ou judiciaires, les débats actuels relatifs à la fin de vie font ressortir de vives préoccupations sociales, éthiques et politiques en France et dans le monde. L’affaire « Vincent LAMBERT » illustre parfaitement les enjeux de situations médicales à la frontière de la vie et de la mort et montre ainsi les limites de l’encadrement législatif des situations de fin de vie. Les rebondissements juridictionnels successifs intervenus dans cette affaire font observer à quel point la prise de décision médicale est complexe, tiraillée entre les volontés, parfois opposées, du patient, de ses proches, voire des professionnels de santé. Objectif : L’objectif de notre recherche était d’identifier les barrières rencontrées lors de la prise de décision médicale devant mettre en œuvre un refus anticipé de traitement. Il convenait de répondre à la question suivante : un refus de soins anticipé est-il une décision impossible ? Méthodes : La première partie des travaux présentés a consisté à recueillir l’avis et évaluer les connaissances des patients et de leurs accompagnants sur les moyens qui permettent à un patient d’exprimer sa volonté par anticipation. La deuxième partie a consisté dans l’identification des critères d’efficacité et d’inefficacité des directives anticipées à travers une analyse de la littérature scientifique et une recherche en droit comparé. La troisième partie présente les difficultés rencontrées dans la mise en œuvre des décisions de limitation et d’arrêt des traitements sur les plans pratique et judiciaire. Conclusion : L’ensemble des questions soulevées au cours de cette recherche suggère la nécessité de développer, en France, des mécanismes efficients d’expression anticipée de la volonté des patients et de promouvoir leur diffusion. Les personnes désirant rédiger des directives anticipées devraient pouvoir avoir accès à un dispositif garantissant le respect et l’effectivité de leur droit à refuser un traitement. Une personne dans l’incapacité d’exprimer sa volonté devrait pouvoir exercer les mêmes droits de refuser un traitement et de voir ce choix respecté qu’une personne capable de s’exprimer. / Context: The current debates concerning the end of life deal with legal, judicial and social issues. What is clear is they all highlight some serious social, ethical and political concerns in France and in the world. The case « Vincent Lambert » shows exactly the difficulties of medical situations between the life and the death of patients, which puts in evidence the limits of the legal framework. Indeed, several judicial reversals happened in this case and illustrate well how difficult it is to make a right medical decision when the patient, their relatives and medical staff have conflicting views. Objective: The objective of our research was to identify which are the difficulties when medical staff has to make a decision applying an anticipated refusal of treatment. As a consequence, the challenge was to answer the following question: is an anticipated refusal of treatment an impossible decision? Methods: Our work was divided into three parts. The first part aimed at asking patients’ opinions as well as assessing their knowledge of the different ways to express their will in advance. Then, the second part had to determine which criteria ensure a good application of advance directives. This study was based on an analysis of the scientific literature and a work in Comparative Law. In the end, the third part presents both practical and judicial problems regarding the application of a decision whose the goal is to withhold and withdraw a life-sustaining treatment Conclusion: This research has raised several issues and it draws our attention on the need to devise effective ways to give an anticipated consent about the end of life. If people want to write advance directives, they should have the possibility to do so and make sure their right to refuse a treatment is respected. In addition, even though someone is unable to give their consent because of their condition or disease, they should be able to use the same right to refuse a treatment and should be sure their decision is respected.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the process used by Haitians and Haitian Americans who must make healthcare decisions for a terminally ill family member. There is a large population of Haitians and Haitian Americans in South Florida and there has been no research regarding their decision-making process about end-of-life healthcare. The study design was descriptive, applying constructivist grounded theory methodology. Data were collected using semi-structured, face-to-face qualitative interviews. Data analysis and collection occurred simultaneously. Participants (n=12) were purposefully recruited, with 11 from a single, faith-based community. The findings resulted in six concepts: (1) imminent or actual death, (2) disrupted unity, (3) managing disrupted unity, (4) consequences, (5) restoring unity, and (6) creating memories you can live with. These six concepts, elaborated by an additional 17 dimensions, were incorporated into a process model relating to the cultural value of communal unity to the end-of-life decision-making process. The implications of this study include a need to improve the congruence between the nursing care provided at this vulnerable time and the cultural values of this population. Successful access to this population through the structure of the faith-based community points the way to increasing access to appropriate end-of-life healthcare. Practice implications informed by caring science include the importance of nurses’ coming to know the family and listening to the unique care needs. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This thesis draws on a community-engaged digital-mapping project with the Vancouver Island Coast Salish community of the Stz’uminus First Nation. In this paper, I discuss the ways in which conventional cartographic representations of Indigenous peoples are laden with methodological and visual assumptions that position Indigenous peoples’ perspectives, stories, and experiences within test-, proof-, and boundary-driven legal and Eurocentric contexts. In contrast, I frame this project’s methodology and digital mapping tools as an effort to map a depth of place, the emotional, spiritual, experiential, and kin-based cultural context that is routinely glossed over in conventional mapping practices. I argue elders’ place-based stories, when recorded on video and embedded in a digital map, produce a space for the “unmappable,” that which cannot, or will not, be expressed within the constructs of a static two-dimensional map. This thesis also describes a refusal to steep maps too deeply in cultural context for a public audience. I detail the conversations that emerged in response to a set of deeply spiritual, cultural, and personal stories to mark how the presence of Coast Salish law, customs, power structures, varying intra-community perspectives, and refusal came to bear on the production of “blank space” (interpreted colonially and legally as terra nullius) in this project’s cartographic representation. Finally, I conclude that Coast Salish sharing customs are embedded within networks of Coast Salish customary legal traditions, which fundamentally affects tensions that arise between storytelling and digital mapping technologies, between academic and community accountabilities, and between collective and individual consent. / Graduate / 2019-10-13

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[pt] O presente trabalho estuda, à luz do conceito de interculturalismo, da sociologia linguística interacional, bem como das filosofias confucianas, como é realizado o ato de fala de recusa no português do Brasil e no mandarim da China Continental. De modo geral, o ato de recusa pode representar descortesia e falta de interesse do falante; pode ainda causar desentendimento entre os interlocutores, sobretudo quando são de países de culturas diferentes. Entretanto, tanto no português quanto no mandarim, existem vários fatores e estratégias envolvidas na enunciação de tal ato, além de semelhanças e diferenças presentes nesses recursos. O corpus utilizado nesta pesquisa é construído pelas cenas selecionadas de dois programas televisivos: A Grande Família (2001-2011, Rio de Janeiro/Brasil) e Mamãe Tigre Papai Gato (2015, Beijing/China). Através desses dados, apresentamos as principais estratégias de recusa presentes nas duas línguas, bem como os fatores interculturais que interferem na escolha de tais estratégias. / [en] The purpose of this research is to investigate how the speech act of refusing is realized in Brazilian Portuguese and in Mandarin of Mainland China from the perspectives of the concept of interculturalism, linguistic sociology and some Confucian thoughts. In general, refusals present discourtesy and lack of interest on the part of the speaker; this speech act can even cause misunderstandings between people, especially when they come from different culture origins. Nevertheless, several factors and strategies can be identified in refusal speech act in both Portuguese and Mandarin, besides some similarities and differences, which can be verified in those strategies. The corpus used in this study is formed of analysis of scenes collected from two television programs: The Big Family/A Grande Família (2001-2011, Rio de Janeiro/Brazil) and Tiger Mother Cat Father(2015, Beijing/China). By observing these data, we present the main strategies of refusing identified in the two languages, as well as the intercultural factors which interfere in the selection of these strategies.

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