This thesis analyses the effects of judgements of the Court of Justice of the European Union on a particular company represented by the French transnational corporation L'Oréal Group. In the first chapter I explain the system within which the protection of the intellectual property is realised. Firstly, I define the key concepts of the intellectual property, and then I introduce the means of the legal protection of the intellectual property on both national and international level. The analysis of the trademark law of the European Union follows in the second chapter where I examine its presence in both primary and secondary law, where I describe the roles of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and where I introduce the most important judicature of the Court of Justice of the EU related to the trademark law. The third chapter is of the highest practical importance as it contains the discussion on the effects of judgements of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the L'Oréal Group in the form of a case study. Firstly I analyse the economic strategy of the group and I assess the importance of trademarks for L'Oréal, then I introduce the most important cases of the Court of Justice of the EU in which L'Oréal has been a party to the dispute. I conclude this chapter with the analysis of the effects of judgements of the Court of Justice of the EU on L'Oréal.

In its latest attempt to curb the plight of unconstitutional changes of government in Africa, the African Union (AU) is in the process of empowering the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) to prosecute perpetrators of unconstitutional changes of government in member states. This study considers the prospects and challenges of such prosecution by the proposed African Court. The study first identifies the normative and institutional framework developed by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and later the AU to address unconstitutional changes of government in the continent. It then analyses the AU’s response to unconstitutional changes of government in member states, taking Guinea, The Comoros, Niger, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya as case studies. In doing so, it identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the AU’s response to the changes in these countries, including the capability of the AU’s normative and institutional framework to address all forms of unconstitutional changes in the region. Most importantly, the study addresses the challenges and prospects of prosecuting unconstitutional changes of government by the proposed African Court and whether the Court would be able to overcome the short-comings identified in the case studies. It finally concludes and recommends based on the findings of the study. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / gm2014 / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

Member States' observations in proceedings before the Court of Justice compared with the

La CIJ en tant qu’organe judiciaire principal des Nations Unies est amenée à connaître de ce type de différend spécifique. En effet, les litiges environnementaux emportent avec eux un certain degré de technicité et font appel à des notions scientifiques particulièrement complexes. La rencontre entre la protection de l’environnement et la CIJ ne pouvait alors que donner lieu à un contentieux particulièrement riche. L’appréhension de ce contentieux par la Cour conduit à s’interroger sur la manière dont cette dernière réceptionne ces litiges. La présente thèse s’intéresse donc aux effets et conséquences résultant du contentieux de l’environnement devant la CIJ. Deux remarques peuvent être formulées : la première concerne le constat d’une intégration progressive des enjeux environnementaux au sein du contentieux international de la CIJ, et la deuxième concerne l’opportunité pour la Cour d’adapter ses règles procédurales. Une adaptation des règles procédurales de la CIJ serait souhaitable. En effet, les enjeux environnementaux tendent à s’intégrer de plus en plus au sein du contentieux international de la CIJ qui contribue de ce fait au développement des règles de droit international de l’environnement. Toutefois, une telle intégration révèle également les limites de la Cour. La Cour pourrait endosser le rôle de juge environnemental, en prenant en considération les spécificités de ce contentieux, notamment par l’adaptation de ses outils procéduraux. Ainsi, c’est une dynamique réciproque qui s’installe entre la Cour et la protection de l’environnement. La préservation de l’environnement est enrichie par la Cour, mais cette dernière pourrait également voir son rôle évoluer grâce à la prise en considération des enjeux environnementaux. La CIJ pourrait alors devenir un véritable juge international de l’environnement dont la communauté internationale manque encore. / The ICJ as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations comes to know of this type of specific dispute. In fact, environmental disputes carry with them a certain degree of technicality and call upon particularly complex scientific notions. The meeting between the protection of the environment and the ICJ could then only give rise to a particularly rich litigation. The Court's apprehension of this kind of litigation raises the question of how the Court deals with these disputes. The present thesis is therefore concerned with the effects and consequences resulting from the environmental litigation before the ICJ.This leads us to two remarks: the first one concerns the phenomenon by which environmental stakes are integrated within international litigation, and, the second one concerns the opportunity for the court to adapt its procedural rules to deal with environmental issues. Indeed, environmental issues tend to be more and more integrated into the international litigation of the ICJ, which contributes to the development of the rules of international environmental law. However, such integration also reveals the limits of the Court. However, the Court could take on the role of an environmental judge, by adapting its procedural tools to the specificities of this particular litigation. Thus, it is a reciprocal dynamic that takes place between the Court and the protection of the environment. The preservation of the environment is enriched by the Court, but the Court could also see its role evolve through the consideration of environmental issues. The ICJ could then become a genuine international environmental judge whose international community is still lacking.

The past few decades have seen a veritable explosion of investment treaty and other arbitration claims brought against States. Many of these claims have been heard through ICSID arbitration. In comparison to other arbitration frameworks, the ICSID regime has its own self-contained rules for enforcement. Thus, given the significant increase in arbitration claims against States, on the one hand, and States’ not too seldom invoking of the defence of sovereign immunity, on the other hand, this treatise is timely in addressing various outstanding issues that award-creditors have and will continue to encounter when dealing with defaulting States.   The doctrine of sovereign immunity translates into the conventional wisdom that a State cannot be sued without its consent in foreign courts. This doctrine derives from the practical consequence that the sovereign makes the law, and consequently can break it too. This idea is an extension of primarily the common law doctrine to the international plane, which emerged largely as a result of international comity.[1] This concept is also based upon principles ‘equality’ in terms of ‘equal sovereign status’. Some authors even call it ‘independence’ and ‘dignity’ etc., In this respect, the ICJ has also held that it was equality, that is the basis, i.e. justification for the general rule of immunity.   The theory of immunity has gradually shifted from absolute to restrictive immunity, making it significantly easier for award-creditors to enforce an arbitral award. However, the barrier vis-à-vis immunity from execution makes the last link in ITA vulnerable. This evolution has made substantially an easier task for award-creditors in ITA and ISDS holding an arbitration award against a sovereign State. In view of this relatively at ease syndrome that award-creditors now possess, the immunity protections granted to State and its assets will be accessed albeit the proportionality test of acta jure imperii (i.e. sovereign or government purpose) &amp; acta jure gestionis (i.e. commercial or mixed purpose) and the measurement standard applied to such tests is UNSCI 2004, which are now largely constituting States customary international law.   Ultimately, to the author’s opinion, the value of international arbitration (‘ITA and ISDS’) as a means and ends of solving disputes is dependent upon the extent to which arbitral awards are honoured and enforced. In this light, the author can vociferously say that sovereign immunity remains a significant impediment against award-creditors seeking to enforce arbitral awards against unwilling States. The barrier is not one that will fade away. Thus, outstanding award-creditors could be advised to exercise some pressure through alternate and viable forms of enforcement measures. Therefore, the States should not stand-alone to shield their commercial assets from enforcement, attachment and execution, especially for de minimis sovereign purposes.[2]  [1] R Doak Bishop (ed), Enforcement of Arbitral Awards against Sovereigns (JurisNet, LLC Publ 2009). [2] R Doak Bishop (ed), Enforcement of Arbitral Awards against Sovereigns (JurisNet, LLC Publ 2009). / <p>My thesis opposition was done through virtual presentation in Zoom. </p>

The past few decades have seen a veritable explosion of investment treaty and other arbitration claims brought against States. Many of these claims have been heard through ICSID arbitration. In comparison to other arbitration frameworks, the ICSID regime has its own self-contained rules for enforcement. Thus, given the significant increase in arbitration claims against States, on the one hand, and States’ not too seldom invoking of the defence of sovereign immunity, on the other hand, this treatise is timely in addressing various outstanding issues that award-creditors have and will continue to encounter when dealing with defaulting States.   The doctrine of sovereign immunity translates into the conventional wisdom that a State cannot be sued without its consent in foreign courts. This doctrine derives from the practical consequence that the sovereign makes the law, and consequently can break it too. This idea is an extension of primarily the common law doctrine to the international plane, which emerged largely as a result of international comity.[1] This concept is also based upon principles ‘equality’ in terms of ‘equal sovereign status’. Some authors even call it ‘independence’ and ‘dignity’ etc., In this respect, the ICJ has also held that it was equality, that is the basis, i.e. justification for the general rule of immunity.   The theory of immunity has gradually shifted from absolute to restrictive immunity, making it significantly easier for award-creditors to enforce an arbitral award. However, the barrier vis-à-vis immunity from execution makes the last link in ITA vulnerable. This evolution has made substantially an easier task for award-creditors in ITA and ISDS holding an arbitration award against a sovereign State. In view of this relatively at ease syndrome that award-creditors now possess, the immunity protections granted to State and its assets will be accessed albeit the proportionality test of acta jure imperii (i.e. sovereign or government purpose) &amp; acta jure gestionis (i.e. commercial or mixed purpose) and the measurement standard applied to such tests is UNSCI 2004, which are now largely constituting States customary international law.   Ultimately, to the author’s opinion, the value of international arbitration (‘ITA and ISDS’) as a means and ends of solving disputes is dependent upon the extent to which arbitral awards are honoured and enforced. In this light, the author can vociferously say that sovereign immunity remains a significant impediment against award-creditors seeking to enforce arbitral awards against unwilling States. The barrier is not one that will fade away. Thus, outstanding award-creditors could be advised to exercise some pressure through alternate and viable forms of enforcement measures. Therefore, the States should not stand-alone to shield their commercial assets from enforcement, attachment and execution, especially for de minimis sovereign purposes.[2] [1] R Doak Bishop (ed), Enforcement of Arbitral Awards against Sovereigns (JurisNet, LLC Publ 2009). [2] Bishop (n 1).

Le rôle intégratif que la Cour de justice des Communautés européennes (CJCE) a joué dans la construction européenne est bien connu et très documenté. Ce qui l'est moins ce sont les raisons qui l'ont motivé, et le motivent encore. Si certains se sont déjà penchés sur cette question, un aspect a néanmoins été complètement négligé, celui de l'influence qu'a pu avoir à cet égard le contexte conjoncturel sur la jurisprudence communautaire et plus précisément sur l'orientation que la Cour a choisi de lui donner. Dans ce cadre, les auditoires de la Cour ont un rôle déterminant. Pour s'assurer d'une bonne application de ses décisions, la Cour est en effet amenée à prendre en considération les attentes des États membres, des institutions européennes, de la communauté juridique (tribunaux nationaux, avocats généraux, doctrine et praticiens) et des ressortissants européens (citoyens et opérateurs économiques). Aussi, à la question du pourquoi la CJCE décide (ou non) d'intervenir, dans le domaine de la libre circulation des marchandises, en faveur de l'intégration économique européenne, j'avance l'hypothèse suivante: l'intervention de la Cour dépend d'une variable centrale : les auditoires, dont les attentes (et leur poids respectif) sont elles-mêmes déterminées par le contexte conjoncturel. L'objectif est de faire ressortir l'aspect plus idéologique de la prise de décision de la Cour, largement méconnu par la doctrine, et de démontrer que le caractère fluctuant de la jurisprudence communautaire dans ce domaine, et en particulier dans l'interprétation de l'article 28 du traité CE, s'explique par la prise en compte par la Cour des attentes de ses auditoires, lesquels ont majoritairement adhéré à l'idéologie néolibérale. Afin de mieux saisir le poids - variable - de chaque auditoire de la Cour, j'apprécierai, dans une première partie, le contexte conjoncturel de la construction européenne de 1990 à 2006 et notamment le virage néolibéral que celle-ci a opéré. L'étude des auditoires et de leur impact sur la jurisprudence fera l'objet de la seconde partie de ma thèse. Je montrerai ainsi que la jurisprudence communautaire est une jurisprudence « sous influence », essentiellement au service de la réalisation puis de l'approfondissement du marché intérieur européen. / The integrative role played by the Court of Justice of the European Communities (CJEC) in the construction of Europe is well known and documented. However the reasons that have motivated the CJEC in this role are far less known. Although some studies have been conducted on this topic, one aspect has been completely ignored: the influence of the conjunctural context on the European Community case law, and more precisely the orientation that the Court has chosen to give to the latter. Within this scope the Court's audiences play a determining role. To ensure that its decisions are well followed, the CJEC takes into consideration the expectations of the Member States, the European institutions, the judicial community (national tribunals, Advocates General, doctrine and practitioners), and the European citizens and economic operators. In regard to the question as to whether or not the CJEC decides to intervene in the domain of free movement of goods, in favour of the European economic integration, I argue the following hypothesis: the intervention of the Court depends on a central variable, that of the audiences, of which the expectations (and their relative weight) are determined by the conjunctural context. My objective is to point out the ideological aspects of the Court's decision making, mostly unknown to legal scholarship, and to demonstrate that the fluctuating character of case law in this domain, and more precisely in the interpretation of Article 28 of the CE Treaty, is explained by the Court’s taking into consideration the expectations of its audiences, which are mainly committed to the neoliberal ideology. In order to evaluate the varying weight of each audience of the CJEC, the first part of the thesis will delve into the conjunctural context and the European construction from 1990 to 2006 where in particular, we observe a turn towards neoliberalism. The study of the audiences and their impact on EC case law will be the subject of the second part of the thesis. I will show that this case law is "under influence", essentially to the service of the development and the strengthening of the European internal market.

Environmental impact assessment of projects in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a horizontal tool of protection of the environment, based on principles of precaution and prevention and aimed at assessment of plans and programs, or projects. This thesis deals with assessment of projects only. At EU level, the legal basis for EIA of projects is provided for by the EIA Directive (Directive 2011/92/EU) which is expected to be amended in the near future. The thesis provides for an analysis of the EIA case law of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), identifies the main problems encountered by the Member States when implementing the EIA Directive, identifies the key principles established by the CJEU for interpretation of the EIA directive, and in the light of the above it identifies the main issues in the transposition in the Czech law. 1

Improper transposition of an EU Directive is a phenomenon that occurs in quite an appreciable amount and in the performance of duty of individual Member States this represents a relatively common, although undesirable situation. The submitted diploma thesis deals with this issue within the Czech Republic in the light of individual proceedings for the failure to fulfill an obligation resulting from EU Treaties, which were concucted against the Czech Republic. This thesis is divided into six chapters, based on the theoretical foundations that are subsequently applied in practical examples. The first chapter presents the theoretical center of gravity for embedding the concept of primary and secondary law with emphasis on the EU Directive, while the this EU legislation is analyzed both in general terms and in terms of its structure. The following second chapter then gives an explanation to the issue of proper and improper transposition of an EU Directive and individual consequences that are associated with improper transposition of an EU Directive. The practical part starts from the third chapter, which contains analytical summarization of the all proceedings against the Czech Republic, which were conducted because of improper transposition of an EU Directive and ended with a judgement, while the fourth chapter...

: This thesis aims to analyze the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the field of legal protection of access to environmental decision making, with prejudice to the EIA process, consequently to ascertain the compliance of the legal order of the Czech Republic with the law of the European Union in the area of study and therefore assess the possibilities of the future developments in this matter. To do so, this thesis firstly describes the basic properties of access to environmental decision making and its legal basis both in the international law and the law of the European Union. Secondly, the pertinent statutes of the Czech Republic are analyzed in this regard on the basis of the Case C-368/09, Comission v. Czech Republic and then conclusion is reached that even after the amendment of Act No. 100/2001 Coll., on the ascertaining of effects on the environment, Czech Republic does not comply with the requirement to correctly transpose the European Union law. The analysis proceeds with next step to ascertain whether Czech Republic complies at least with the requirement to implement the European Union law accordingly. This goal is accomplished by analyzing the caselaw of the Court of Justice dealing with legal problems pertaining to the legal orders of Federal Republic of Germany...