Czech courts regularly deal with a question of so-called just satisfaction; particularly, when, on what basis, and how much should be awarded. Just satisfaction, as a form of damages, is primarily compensatory. However, there are some indications that it is perfectly legitimate for law of damages to pursue also another aims than compensation such as prevention or punishment. This view was recently upheld by the Czech Constitutional Court and the Highest Court of the Czech Republic. According to doctrinal approach, it is the domain of punitive or exemplary damages as a specific Anglo-American instrument that covers these two principles (prevention and punishment). Still, the Czech Civil courts consistently refuse to award exemplary damages albeit they do not provide us any sound argumentation. The author of this article suggests it is inaccurate and only partial understanding of exemplary damages that causes the current judicial refusal of them. While focusing on current English and Czech law, the author in his article describes exemplary damages in great detail with respect to their theoretical, conceptual and systematic position. Subsequently, he shows that the negative attitude of the Czech courts is not always appropriate. First, looking at relevant case law, the article characterises what the...

This paper looks at Texas tort law reform to make claims regarding the relationship between Texas tort reform and damages recovered. Starting with reform in 1977, Texas has passed 15 pieces of legislation that, in principle, restrict the damages plaintiffs recover. Most empirical analyses have focused primarily on analyzing behavior resulting from the tort reform. In other cases, research has looked at the impact the most recent reform has had on damages recovered in medical malpractice lawsuits. This paper is the first to study the impact of Texas tort law reform on damages recovered while looking at the entirety of recent law reform in the state. Specifically, I test the impact of the 15 different laws on total allocated loss, economic loss, and noneconomic loss recovered in all cases from 1988-2012. My findings suggest that caps on medical liability damages are successful at decreasing damages recovered when the cap is geared at either noneconomic damages, or a total damage figure that excludes punitive damages. This suggests that future caps on medical liability damages should explicitly cap either economic or noneconomic damages. Next, the results imply that caps on punitive damage legislature were most successful when using specific value caps paired with an evidence standard—caps of this nature decreased total damages by 28% in 1987 and 85% in 1995. Finally, an introductory legislation restricting the use of joint and several liability in cases when plaintiffs had little guilt was successful, it decreased total damages by 18.6%. This was followed by three failed attempts to impact the application of joint and several liability where the guilt threshold was higher, suggesting that joint and several liability is rarely used if the plaintiff has substantial guilt.

Hurricanes are a threat to power and telecommunication infrastructure. This work summarizes a method for hurricane characterization using the proposed Localized Tropical Cyclone Intensity Index(LTCII) as a model for estimating damages to Electric power infrastructure. The model considers the effect of storm surge, maximum sustained wind speeds, the duration of time for which the system has been under tropical storm conditions and the area swept by hurricane over land. The measurements focus on major load centers in the system. The validation of the outage data is discussed. The model is evaluated for hurricanes from 2004, 2005 and 2008 hurricane seasons. The degree of influence of various hurricane parameters on the damages suffered by electric power systems are discussed using case studies. The maximum outages are observed to follow a logistic regression curve with respect to log(LTCII), with a correlation of 0.85. The observed restoration times fit a 6th degree polynomial with an R2 = 0.6. The effects of time under tropical storm winds were observed to have great significance in the damage profile observed with the model. / text

為了專利法制現代化，美國、中國大陸與台灣均進行專利修法，並修訂損害賠償計算。本文試圖以三者修法目的為思考評析損害賠償計算之修訂，並類型化分析三者相關規範。本文探討美國司法實務所發展的分攤法則及整體市場價值法則，而在建立更有效率之專利制度的目標下，美國專利法第284條並不適合納入上述法則。本文歸納美國專利懲罰性損害賠償制度之三種認定故意的標準。第一，傳統的故意侵害論，Underwater Devices案「充分注意之確切義務」之標準為故意侵害設立了一個較低的門檻，比較類似過失。第二，Seagate案的故意侵害論，為客觀的輕率。第三，專利改革的故意侵害論，三種故意樣態下之客觀的輕率；但可能因此限制法官的裁量權。中國大陸在提高自主創新能力與建設創新型國家之知識產權戰略目標下，第三次專利法修正將於2009年施行。新專利法第65條將現行最高人民法院司法解釋規定的定額賠償提高到專利法層次，且提高法定額度。從訴訟成本考量，由法院定額不失為較經濟的方法；然而，此方法亦有可能會有因非根據證據而落入主觀判斷賠償數額的缺點。新專利法第65條並明訂賠償數額還應當包括權利人為制止侵權行為所支付的合理開支，惟其計量方法仍不明確。雖然新專利法沒有納入懲罰性損害賠償，於提高法定賠償額度與加重其他相關民事與行政責任之配套修改下，新專利法有提高侵權人金錢負擔的效果，應有較大的嚇阻功能，進而鼓勵創新。台灣在因應國內科技政策與國際規範發展，及配合智慧財產法院設立的背景下，提出專利法修正草案，其中建議現行專利法第85條新增「以相當於實施該發明專利所得收取之權利金數額為其損害」規定。然而，針對權利金的合理性及是否以合理權利金作為補償底限，修正草案並沒有明確規定。此外，修正草案建議刪除懲罰性損害賠償，以回歸我國民事損害賠償制度。台灣專利侵害民事訴訟的成本與賠償金額並不高，也沒有敗訴方負擔對方律師費用的規定，在專利侵害全面除罪化之後，懲罰性損害賠償對侵害人可能形成一種「實質上額外的風險」，而非「僅是一種商業上的成本」，因而有其一定的功能意義。以專利法促進產業發展的目的考量，若沒有相關配套措施，實可考慮繼續保留現行懲罰性損害賠償制度。 / For modernization of patent laws, the United States, China and Taiwan are undergoing patent reform, each amending its damages provision. This thesis categorized forms of damages calculation in three countries, and tried to analyze its amendment from the perspective of patent reform in each country. This thesis analyzed the possible impact of specifying the apportionment rule and entire market value rule in Section 284, 35 United State Code. In addition, three standards of willful infringement with enhanced damages were concluded. First, the traditional willfulness doctrine in Underwater Devices case is the affirmative duty of due care which sets a lower threshold of willing infringement that is more akin to negligence. Second, willfulness in Seagate case requires at least an objective recklessness. Third, willfulness in Patent Reform Act of 2009 requires an objective recklessness in three different conditions; such proposal may restrict the discretion of the court. With national intellectual property strategy to improve the domestic capacity of innovation and to build an innovative country, the third amendment to Patent Act of the People's Republic of China becomes in effect in 2009. Article 65 in the new Chinese Patent Act codifies the statutory damages in the range of RMB 10,000 to 1,000,000, compared to the current range of RMB 5,000 to 500,000 provided by the Supreme People’s Court judicial interpretation. In the perspective of litigation costs, statutory damages award may be a more economic approach but subjective judgment could have implication caused by lack of factual evidence for damages calculation. Article 65 also codifies that the amount of compensation shall include reasonable cost for ceasing patent infringement by the right holder, however, how to measure the reasonable cost is not clear. Although the new Chinese Patent Act does not include punitive damages, the maximum statutory damages, other related civil liability and administrative penalty are increased. Such amendments may increase the pecuniary burden of the infringer and expect to lead to more deterrent effect on patent infringement and encourage innovation. In the context of international regulation change, national technology policy change and establishment of professional Intellectual Property Court, comprehensive review of Taiwanese Patent Act is ongoing. The proposed bill adds “equivalent amount of royalty for implementing the patent invention as damages” into Article 85 of current Taiwanese Patent Act. However, it is not clearly codified that a reasonable royalty must be justified and such royalty calculation is to set a floor for damages award. The proposed bill abandons punitive damages for willful infringement. In such proposal, the result of willful infringement may not be a substantial additional risk but only a cost of doing business, because the litigation cost and damages award are not so high, and there is no attorney fee award or criminal penalty in Taiwanese patent regulation system. Hence, reconsideration of retaining punitive damages is suggested.

Trade between Britain and China is rapidly expanding, and shipping law plays an important role in facilitating economic activity. This thesis provides an exemplification on the measure of damages in the carriage of goods by sea in both countries. It will help practitioners as well as scholars from both countries to understand the peculiar features and dynamics of the topic in the other’s shipping laws. The Chinese law of damages and shipping law are not as detailed or as well-structured as its English counterpart. Over the years, some articles in the Chinese Maritime Code (CMC) have been interpreted inconsistently, e.g., art.55, and there is contradiction among different laws on the said topic, resulting in considerable confusion about the law. Bizarre and arguably unjust applications of legal rules continue to surface in claims for damages. A large number of contradictory decisions have been produced in Chinese shipping cases. Similar heads of damages are accepted or rejected in a process which at times seems alarmingly random. It is time to revisit the CMC and the law of damages and to urge their reform. England is a well-established centre of shipping litigation and arbitration in the world and its shipping laws are more influential on Chinese maritime courts than those of any other country. Several senior Chinese scholars suggest that English law is the model on which the reformed CMC should be based. This thesis is written with a view to encouraging a revision of the defects in the CMC and to changing aspects of the current Chinese law of damages. It expounds on the English law part, provides a principled explanation for legal rules in cargo claims, reviews relevant Chinese law, makes comparisons between English and Chinese law at length, addresses the problems in Chinese shipping law and seeks a solution. It is hoped that this thesis can provide instructive recommendations to Chinese lawmakers and clarify the chaos inherent in interpreting the relevant law. In a few aspects, Chinese law seems fairer than the English position, which English scholars may find refreshing and enlightening. This thesis also proposes to increase the awareness of national decision-makers, especially the Chinese, of the international tenor of existing and proposed international maritime laws, as well as the concomitant duty to interpret and implement them as such.

The master thesis deals with regulation of group of companies with emphasis on compensation of damages. In the introduction of the paper the law of group of companies is defined and the main purposes of the regulation are pointed out. The main aim of this legal field is to protect minority shareholders and creditors of subsidiaries through the system of compensation of damages. This primary obligation is supplemented by other legal institutes protecting vulnerable subjects. The paper also mentions leading concepts, which represent a template for the new system of regulation in the Act on commercial companies and cooperatives. The analysis of new rules concerning compensation of damages in a group of companies is determined by the structure of provisions in the Act on commercial companies and cooperatives. The most important is a new institute of influence, which protects the integrity and interests of the influenced subsidiary. In case that the parent company affects the subsidiary, the parent company shall compensate damages to the subsidiary and it shall be liable for the subsidiary's debts to its creditors. The paper provides an analysis of group of companies and compares it with rules of domestic and European tax law. It is also compared with rules in previous commercial code. Because of that...

Thesis title: Burden of proving in disputes regarding damages The issue of providing evidence in disputes regarding damages is a theme involving many questions, whose legislation seems to be questionable in some cases. This aspect is compensated for and supplemented by application practise, which makes the theme continuously relevant. The aim of my diploma thesis is to provide a general, descriptive, and comprehensive interpretation of the specifics of providing evidence in disputes regarding damages. Another objective of this diploma thesis is to demonstrate that it is difficult to gain insight both in theoretical and in practical issues of the burden of proof because the opinions of courts and some of the authors specializing in this issue are different in some cases. The first part deals with the general notion of evidence in the civil procedure. I mention the concept and the subject of evidence and its importance in the civil procedure. I also mention selected legal principles connected with providing evidence. A further focus of this part is on procedural obligations of the parties, especially on the obligation of claims and of the burden of proof. It is based on theoretical concepts by significant authors (especially J. Macur). The burden of proof and the related institutes of providing...

The following diploma thesis is called "The scope of liability to damages under the Commercial Code". I have chosen this theme because the damages are one of the most important legal instrument and in accordance with the actual practice of the courts and legislative development also a dynamically developing part of the civil law with perspective on the new attitude to this instrument with respect to the draft bill of the new Civil Code. The aim of the thesis is to acquaint the reader with the current legislation, compare current legislation with respective court decision and opinions of the juristic community and offer new look on the issue. The thesis is divided into seven chapters. The first one is a preface and defines the matter of thesis. The last one is a conclusion and contains the final look on the scope of liability to damages under the Commercial Code and the brief review of conclusions contained in the thesis. Chapter Two deals with legal regulation of formation of the liability to damages and is composed of three parts, each of them is dealing with different matter of this formation. Part One contains the basic precondition, which shall be met in order to claim damages according to the Commercial Code. Part Two focuses on the duty to inform about the occurred damage. Part Three looks at...

Emergency ruling is an often used institute in czech law, which can provide a noticeable protection for who is claiming of his issue. The purpose of emergency ruling is to settle temporarily legal relations or to ensure an enforecement of decisions, if later enforcement of decisions would be undermined. It is a security institute that does not definitely settle right and duties of the parties of an action, determination of rights and obligations is going to be settled only in meritorious proceedings. Emergency rulings are used in such situations that require a prompt and effective solution, whatever area of life it is. Characteristic feature of emergency rulings is an urgency and immediacy, with which court have to decide on proposals. Only in this manner it is possible to protect one's rights effectively. The fact, that the court must decide on quite quickly brings also the risk of incorrect desicions, so it happens to form a damage occasionally. The thesis is composed of three chapters. The first one explains what is nature and purpose of emergency rulings, it's function and also enumerates types of emergency rulings. The second chapter is dealing with general legislation of emergency rulings, as it is set in Civil code procedure. The third chapter is divided into two subchapters, while the first...

Provisional Measures in Adversarial Civil Procedure Abstract This diploma thesis is concerned with Provisional Measures in Adversarial Civil Procedure, i.e. with the legal regulation of the Provisional Measures imposed in proceedings pursuant to Act No. 99/1963 Coll., The Civil Procedure Code, as amended (hereinafter the "Civil Procedure Code"). The Provisional Measures are a procedural institute designed to deal with situations where there is an urgent need to temporarily adjust the legal relationships of the participants or to ensure the enforcement of decisions. However, imposing a Provisional Measure does not constitute a definitive solution, since the duration of a Provisional Measure is always limited by time and a successful petitioner will usually initiate a procedure regarding the merits of the case, which will then resolve the case definitively. However, the outcome of a Provisional Procedure does not fundamentally affect the following meritorious judicial decision. Since the subject of Provisional Measures in civil procedure has been processed many times by students of various law faculties, this thesis also focuses on two sub-institutes of Provisional Measures in Adversarial Procedure, which are damages and compensation for other harm caused by Provisional Measures and security deposited for the...