This theses focuses on the possible legal protection of a computer program as well as on the legal nature of computer program as an intangible asset. Both copyright protection (as a standard and worldwide accepted means of protection) and also the other possibilities, i.e. patent protection and protection based on provisions regulating an unfair competition are discussed. Each means of protection is assessed based on its usability in relation with the computer program taking the overall impact on the information technology branch as such into account. Furthermore, this theses involves critical evaluation regarding the capability of traditional model of distribution and protection of computer programs to face the rapid technological development in the digital era. With respect to this fact some alternative models (SaaS, Free Software) are cited and an analysis of their practical applicability and perspectives of the future development is conducted

The topic of this thesis is the problem of trademark infringement examined in the context of the development of legal jurisdiction. This also includes aspects of unfair competition, and in most of the cases a couple of factors are involved.I use Czechoslovakian, Czech, as well as some European court verdicts in relation to different legal regulations.

The theme of this thesis is "Guerilla marketing and its legal and advertising aspects". Guerilla marketing is a type of marketing tool used for nontraditional, innovative and sometimes shocking advertising campaigns. This thesis contains an analysis of the legal environment regulating this subject. Legal regulation of advertisement in the Czech Republic is a part of both the public and private law regulation. As a part of the thesis a questionnaire survey among the general public was carried out, the public was questioned about knowledge of the concept of guerilla marketing. Another part of the survey was carried out among professionals from communication agencies, their views of the current situation on the advertising market have been compiled. The practical part is concluded by a comparison of the Czech legislation with the legal regulation of advertising in American law.

Unfair Competition and Unfair Commercial Practices in the Online Environment of Social Networks Abstract (ENG) The aim of this master's thesis is to analyse applicable law relating to the phenomenon of surreptitious advertising occurring in the posts published by influencers on social networks, examined in the scope of Czech law against unfair competition and unfair commercial practices. The author also aims to describe the particulars of the proper indication of advertising nature of such posts. The introductory part of this thesis covers general legal provisions on unfair competition and unfair commercial practices (with regard to the European law influence) and legal regulation of social networks. Analysed in detail are the general clause of unfair competition, denominate (special) and innominate (judicial) merits of the cases of unfair competition and the means of protections against unfair competition. Unfair commercial practices are characterised by examination of the general clause, small general clauses and the blacklist of unfair commercial practices. Social networks are introduced generally as information society services and audiovisual media services, and then afterwards three selected social networks - Facebook, Instagram and YouTube - are broadly characterised; the relationship between the...

Disertacijoje nagrinėjamos aktualios problemos, kylančios komercinių žymenų (prekių ženklų, firmų vardų ir kitų komercinėje veikloje naudojamų žymenų, turinčių skiriamąjį požymį) teisinės apsaugos srityje. Disertacijos turinį sudaro keturi skyriai, iš kurių pirmasis nagrinėja komercinių žymenų teisinės apsaugos tikslus ir formas, o kiti – tam tikrą probleminę komercinių žymenų teisinės apsaugos sritį: firmų vardų sampratą ir teisinės apsaugos ribas; komercinių žymenų apsaugą pagal nesąžiningos konkurencijos teisę; reputaciją turinčių žymenų papildomą apsaugą; nagrinėjamų institutų tarpusavio kolizijas. Disertacijoje pateikiami argumentuoti autorės siūlymai dėl darbe nagrinėjamų komercinių žymenų teisinės apsaugos problemų sprendimo būdų. / This work examines the problems arising in the field of legal protection of trade marks, trade names and other distinctive signs under Lithuanian law. The work is comprised of four separate chapters. The first chapter analysis the purpose and forms of protection of distinctive signs; the each of the remaining chapters examines the particular problems relating to different aspects of legal regulation of distinctive signs: the concept and the scope of protection of trade names; protection of distinctive signs according to unfair competition law; additional protection of distinctive signs having a reputation and conflicts between the different legal institutes in the area of protection of distinctive signs. The author of the work presents motivated suggestions regarding possible solutions to the legal problems identified in the rea of protection of distinctive signs.

Economic development in Sri Lanka has relied heavily on foreign and domestic investment. Digital databases are a new and attractive area for this investment. This thesis argues that investment needs protection and this is crucial to attract future investment. The thesis therefore proposes a digital database protection mechanism with a view to attracting investment in digital databases to Sri Lanka. The research examines various existing protection measures whilst mainly focusing on the sui generis right protection which confirms the protection of qualitative and/or quantitative substantial investment in the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents of digital databases. In digital databases, this process is carried out by computer programs which establish meaningful and useful data patterns through their data mining process, and subsequently use those patterns in Knowledge Discovery within database processes. Those processes enhance the value and/or usefulness of the data/information. Computer programs need to be protected, as this thesis proposes, by virtue of patent protection because the process carried out by computer programs is that of a technical process - an area for which patents are particularly suitable for the purpose of protecting. All intellectual property concepts under the existing mechanisms address the issue of investment in databases in different ways. These include Copyright, Contract, Unfair Competition law and Misappropriation and Sui generis right protection. Since the primary objective of the thesis is to introduce a protection system for encouraging qualitative and quantitative investment in digital databases in Sri Lanka, this thesis suggests a set of mechanisms and rights which comprises of existing intellectual protection mechanisms for databases. The ultimate goal of the proposed protection mechanisms and rights is to improve the laws pertaining to the protection of digital databases in Sri Lanka in order to attract investment, to protect the rights and duties of the digital database users and owners/authors and, eventually, to bring positive economic effects to the country. Since digital database protection is a new concept in the Sri Lankan legal context, this research will provide guidelines for policy-makers, judges and lawyers in Sri Lanka and throughout the South Asian region.

The capacity to assemble, store, and make available information in databases is ever growing. This development has accelerated in recent decades, driven by the advent and increased use of digital networks. Already at an early stage, it led to demands for legal protection of databases. In most countries databases have been protected in national legislation based on copyright principles. However, this kind of protection has been regarded as insufficient. The reason for this is that copyright protection only covers the selection or arrangement of the contents of the database. By rearranging the contents, it is possible to avoid liability for copyright infringement. To address the specific needs of producers of databases, the then European community adopted a directive in 1996 on the legal protection of databases. The Directive aims to harmonise copyright protection for databases and to introduce a new, sui generis, right for the legal protection of databases. The sui generis right protects the investments in obtaining, verifying, and presenting the contents in a database. The sui generis right has been described in the literature as one of the most complex intellectual property rights ever established. Its complexity resides in the unclear relationship between the requirements for protection and the content and scope of protection. This dissertation describes, analyses, compares and systematises the legal protection for databases as provided for in the EU Database Directive – both in relation to copyright and sui generis protection, but also in relation to the intellectual property system in general and principles and rules on unfair competition. The study also describes and analyses the Directive as implemented into Swedish law. To do this, it makes use of relevant legal sources, with particular account taken of relevant sources of EU law such as the Directive itself, adjacent directives in the field of copyright and related rights, as well as unfair competition law and the case law and legal method developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The study also draws on underlying theories of intellectual property protection and unfair competition law, as well as arguments based on unjust enrichment and pure economic loss. The study establishes how the sui generis right serves as a legal hybrid between traditional intellectual property rights and protection against unfair competition. The structure of the right resembles traditional intellectual property rights, with requirements for protection, provisions on exclusive rights, exceptions and limitations and a term of protection. At the same time, the content and scope of protection provide measures similar to those countering unfair competition with aspects of protection against pure economic loss. The right protects against certain activities carried out in the market rather than providing protection for a traditional object of intellectual property law. When implementing the Directive, the Swedish legislator overlooked these aspects of the sui generis right, creating legal uncertainties when interpreting and applying the national legislation. The study concludes with a look forward and suggestions for future research.

European Law Against Unfair Competition Abstract The scope of this thesis is intended to cover mainly two branches of the European law against unfair competition. Those two branches were recognized in (i) business-to- business relations governed mostly by the European Union Directive 2006/114/ES and in (ii) business-to-consumer relations governed by the European Union directive 2005/29/ES respectively. Taking in consideration the above-said, it can be stated that this thesis predominantly analyzes what should be in more precise way called as "European Union law against unfair competition". The thesis is divided into ten chapters while five of them should be considered as the leading ones. First of them is the chapter number five dedicated to B2B relations. The author examines the respective directive 2006/114/ES also to the extent of its relevant jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice. The same approach was chosen to describe functioning of B2C relations under directive 2005/29/ES in chapter number seven. Chapter number six focuses on so called "Average Consumer" model that has been found as one of the most important elements of EU law against unfair competition. Because of its exceptional relevance, chapter six deals with the average consumer in a very detail, emphasizing important role of the...

Abstract, Jan Metelka The main aim of this diploma thesis was to firstly explain the field of human pharmaceuticals and regulation of advertisement regarding them, from the general point of view and then in details. In order to achieve this it was required to define advertisement and pharmaceuticals because these terms and crucial for the whole thesis. Both definitions may be off the scope of this text however it plays an important role in understanding all necessary issues. Advertisements in pharmaceutical industry have some specifics as described in chapter 2. There are two kinds of recipients - experts (doctors and pharmacists) and ordinary people (mostly patients). Every kind is special and regulated in a different way. Third chapter described all steps in administrative proceedings related to Act on Advertisement, forming a public branch of law against unfair competition. It summarises and divides all misdemeanours, statistically describes how often they occur and deeply analyses possible breaches of Act on Advertisement. The main part of this thesis is Chapter seven, dealing with unfair competition in private law, as mentioned in early chapters, however here it is specifically described how to apply the general clause and the more important kinds of unfair competition such as deceptive adverts and...

The theoretical part is divided into four chapters. The first chapter deals with competition, the second chapter is about Czech law advertising regulation and about Community law. The third chapter describes misleading advertising and the fourth chapter deals with FMCG. The practical part analyzes current ads. The first chapter describes the method of analysis. The second chapter deals with use of misleading and the third chapter analyzes misuse of truthful information in advertising. The last chapter focuses on the advertising hyperbole.