A study is done on the protection of sound recordings in the decentralized peer-to-peer (DP2P) file sharing in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa. This study reveals that because sound recordings have unique features different from other copyright works, the illegal sharing of sound recordings can ordinarily be filtered, identified, and detected by the Internet service providers (ISPs) before granting access to users and without infringing the users‟ right to privacy. However, the ISPs have failed in this regard, hence, they are strictly held liable under the contributory, vicarious and inducing infringements notwithstanding the statutory law which prohibits ISPs from monitoring, and intercepting their networks. In fact and law, the terms filtering, identifying and detecting on the one hand and monitoring and intercepting on the other hand are different in relation to sound recordings and as such ISPs are not prohibited from filtering, identifying and detecting illegal sound recordings on their networks, thus, ISPs are not protected under the limitation law as it is generally believed. However, several recommendations are made for reform, inter alia: a review of the limitation law to include the terms filtering, identifying and detecting in pursuance of the terms monitoring, and intercepting, if the intention of the legislators was meant to include the latter terms; protection of access right in digital sound recordings, protection of the neighbouring rights of ISPs in the digital world, imposing levies on all recording equipment, the insurability of sound recordings and ISPs‟ signals, and bandwidth. / Mercentile Law / LL. M. (Mercantile Law)

This dissertation is a historical evaluation of the movement of the English courts from the doctrine of pith and marrow to the Catnic test in the determination of non-textual infringement of patents. It considers how and why the doctrine was replaced with the Catnic test. It concludes that this movement occurred as a result of the adoption by a group of judges of literalism in the construction of patents while another group dissented and maintained the correct application of the doctrine. Although the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords initially approved the literalist approach, they, after realising its untennability, adopted the dissenters’ approach, but, ultimately, adopted the Catnic test in which features of the dissenters’ approach were included. The dissertation concludes that the doctrine of pith and marrow, correctly applied, should have been retained as the Catnic test creates uncertainty and confusion. / Mercantile Law / LL.M.

Law / LL.M.

Ce mémoire traite des brevets d'invention. Le premier volet dresse un portrait global de l'institution juridique du brevet, tout en en rappelant sommairement les fondements économique et philosophique. Après une brève présentation des conditions préalables à sa délivrance, nous discutons des composantes matérielles du brevet, soit la description de l’invention et les revendications. Une attention particulière est portée à la rédaction ainsi qu'à l'interprétation des revendications. Nous traitons ainsi de deux types de revendications spécialisées qui se sont développés avec l'usage, respectivement les revendications de type Jepson et Markush, pour ensuite recenser les principes d'interprétation des revendications que les tribunaux ont établis. Le deuxième volet traite de la validité et de la contrefaçon de brevet. Sur la question de la validité, nous abordons les principaux motifs pouvant entraîner l'invalidité du brevet, soit: l’ambiguïté, l'insuffisance de la divulgation, le double brevet, l'absence de nouveauté, l'évidence et l'absence d'utilité. Enfin, sur la question de la contrefaçon, nous examinons les circonstances dans lesquelles les actes commis par les tiers portent atteinte au monopole du titulaire de brevet. Pour ce faire, nous nous attardons à la portée des droits exclusifs qui sont reconnus à ce dernier. Tant en ce qui a trait à la validité qu'à la contrefaçon, nous recourons à des illustrations jurisprudentielles permettant de constater les incidences litigieuses afférentes, d'une part, aux motifs d'invalidité et, d'autre part, aux actes de contrefaçon. / This thesis pertains to patent law. The first part of the study is an overview of patents, where both economic and philosophical justifications for this legal regime are shortly addressed. After reviewing the requirements for the grant of a patent, we turn our attention to the main sections of a patent, namely the description of the invention and the claims. We then proceed to a thorough analysis of both the writing and construction of patent claims. More specifically, Jepson and Markush claims command our attention, having emerged as widespread methods for writing patent claims. Moreover, principles of claim construction, as devised by courts in the context of litigation, are also examined. The second part of this study pertains to patent validity and infringement. Regarding validity, we discuss a number of irregularities that may be cause for the invalidity of a patent, namely: ambiguity, insufficiency of the disclosure, double patenting, anticipation, obviousness and lack of utility. Lastly, with respect to infringement, we consider the circumstances from which it may arise, based on the actions of a third party alleged to be in violation of the patentee’s monopoly. This is carried by way of appraising the extent of said patentee's exclusive rights. With respect to both validity and infringement, we discuss case law pertaining, in a first instance, to validity issues and, in a second instance, to infringement matters.

This paper discusses the history and recent developments pertaining to ISPs' liability for copyright infringement in the European Union. Section I. explains ISPs' basic roles on the Internet, discusses practical grounds justifying a special liability regime for ISPs and outlines the EU legal framework providing safe harbor provisions for ISPs' liability and transposition of these rules into the legal system of the Czech Republic. Section II. describes how judicial decisions in the EU Member States eroded safe harbor rules and how these decisions were subsequently overturned by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJ). The section continues with an examination of the latest judgment of the CJ in UPC Telekabel Wien concerning new rules (or lack thereof) for website-blocking injunctions. Section III. discusses notable examples of EU Member states' legislation or legislative proposals which aimed to put a stop to "online piracy" and copyright infringement. Considerable part of this section analyzes the recent controversial system set up by the Italian communications regulator AGCOM. Section IV. describes examples of increasing voluntary collaboration between ISPs and content owners, which has the potential to effectively combat online piracy and benefit all parties involved. Section V. explores...

Denna studie har ämnat undersöka hur ett biotopskyddsområde påverkar avkastningen för en privat skogsägare. Bildandet av ett biotopskyddsområde ses som ett ingrepp i den privata äganderätten där skogsägaren får sin mark inlöst och i utbyte utgår en ersättning från staten per hektar skogsmark som ingår i biotopskyddet. För att ta reda på hur skogsägaren påverkas av bildandet av biotopskyddsområden har studien utgått från befintliga data. Detta i form av statistik från Skogsstyrelsen där nybildade biotopskyddsområden och ersättningen för dessa presenteras. Vidare, för att stärka variablernas kvalitet i studien och för att få en övergripande förståelse för hur ersättningen står sig gentemot en fortsatt drift av skogen har fem intervjuer gjorts med personer från organisationer inom det svenska skogsbruket. I och med att studien använt sig av en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ metod anses det metodologiska tillvägagångsättet vara likt mixed methods.    Resultatet visade att den statliga ersättningen för biotopskyddsområden stod sig i dryga 85 år gentemot avkastningen som en fortsatt drift av skogen i genomsnitt skulle ge. Vid medelmåttig bonitet, arrondering och ett marknadsläge med normala till höga virkespriser är ersättningen enligt merparten av intervjupersonerna skälig. Genom intervjuerna framgick också att det inte var ersättningens nivå som var problemet. Några av intervjupersonerna antydde att skogsägare med bra arrondering, närhet till vägar och hög bonitet på sitt skifte inte var lika gynnade av ersättningen. Det var således dessa faktorer som intervjupersonerna ansåg påverkade avkastningen från skogen mest.    Diskussionen kring resultatet och de svar och åsikter som samlats in via statistik och intervjuer visade att det var avsaknaden av pengar som var det främsta monetära problemet kring ersättningen. Staten avsätter inte nog med pengar för de marker som de vill skydda, därför får oftast inte skogsägaren pengarna direkt utan får vänta i bildandet av biotopskyddsområden. Vidare påverkar ingreppet skogsägaren i termer som inte går att mäta i kronor, det är här som äganderätten och ingreppet i den blir central. Familjearv blir inlösta och en av organisationerna som intervjuats menar att staten försöker pruta med markägaren. Vissa gånger även skrämma markägaren med hot om rättegång om de inte godtar ett anbud från staten.          Sammanfattningsvis visar studiens resultat på att skogsägaren på kortare sikt inte påverkas negativt, sett ur ett avkastningsperspektiv, eftersom ersättningen är representativ gentemot avkastningen som en generation skulle få ut av skogen. Ersättningen för biotopskyddsområdet avser enligt nu gällande regler emellertid en allframtidsöverlåtelse, avkastningen som senare generationer skulle fått ut av skogen går då förlorad. Ingreppet påverkar också skogsägarens privata äganderätt, vilket troligtvis inte kan värderas i termer av pengar. / This study is intended to investigate how a biotope protection area affects the yield of a private forest owner. The formation of a biotope protection area is seen as an engagement of the private property right where the forest owner gets his land redeemed and in exchange a compensation is paid by the state per hectare of forest land included in the biotope protection. In order to find out how the forest owner is affected by the formation of biotope protection areas, the study has been based on existing data. This is in the form of statistics from the Swedish Forest Agency, where newly formed biotope protection areas and the compensation for these are presented. Furthermore, in order to strengthen the quality of the variables in the study and to gain an overall understanding of how the compensation is in relation to the continued operation of the forest, five interviews have been made with people from organizations in the Swedish forestry industry. Since the study used a quantitative and a qualitative method, the methodological approach is considered to be similar to mixed methods.    The result showed that the state compensation for biotope protection areas stood at more than 85 years compared to the return that the continued operation of the forest would on average provide. In the case of mediocre quality, arrest and a market situation with normal to high wood prices, the remuneration according to most of the interviewees is reasonable. The interviews also showed that the problem was not the level of compensation. Some of the interviewees suggested that forest owners with good arrest, proximity to roads and high quality at their turn were not as favored by the compensation. It was thus these factors that the interviewees considered most affected the yield from the forest.    The discussion about the results, answers and opinions gathered through statistics and interviews showed that it was the lack of money that was the main monetary problem regarding the compensation. The state does not allocate enough money for the grounds that they want to protect, therefore the forest owner usually does not receive the money directly, but has to wait in the formation of biotope protection areas. Furthermore, the engagement affects the forest owner a lot in terms that cannot be measured in SEK, it's here that the ownership and the intrusion into it becomes central. Family inheritance is redeemed and one of the organizations interviewed believes that the state is trying to bargain with the landowner. Some times even scare the land owner with the threat of trial if they do not accept a bid.      In summary, the study's results show that the forest owner in the shorter term is not adversely affected, from a yield perspective, since the compensation is representative of the return that a generation would get in return of the forest. However, the compensation for the biotope protection area, according to current rules, refers to an all-time transfer, the yield that later generations would have received from the forest is then lost. Engagement also affects the forest owner's private ownership, which probably cannot be valued in terms of money.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:28:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Francisco Octavio de Almeida Prado Filho.pdf: 861416 bytes, checksum: c9abd03d29ec13845de3c1609ea8d5a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-11-17 / This dissertation deals with the study of administrative discretion applied specifically to the legislation concerning administrative sanctions, with regard to the principles and rules that apply to the administrator when sanctions are used. When applied to infringement and administrative sanctions, the discretion theory shows some unique characteristics that are not to be encountered in other areas, especially as far as undetermined legal concepts are concerned. Chapter One will therefore describe the constitutional structure of the Brazilian state, showing the main functions performed by the said state in creating, using and controlling infringement and administrative sanctions. Chapter Two will cover the principle of legal security and the legality principle as the expression of the democratic principle and the fundamentals of the administration activity. Chapter Three will deal particularly with jurisdictional control and discretion, and will explain the limits to the jurisdictional control of administrative acts. Chapter Four will shed light on the legal regime, which may be applicable to infringement and administrative sanctions that are considered as an expression of the government jus puniendi. Chapter Five will address discretion when applied to sanctioning administrative law, with considerations on the use of undetermined legal concepts in the description of infringement. Chapter Six will mention other principles under the control of the Judiciary Power to be considered upon the enforcement of administrative sanctions. Chapter Seven will deal with infringement exculpatory, as well as with the issue of transferability of administrative sanctions to a third party by means of succession. Finally, we will present the conclusions of this study / O tema da presente dissertação envolve o estudo da discricionariedade administrativa aplicada ao campo específico do direito administrativo sancionador, com a indicação dos princípios e regras que vinculam o administrador na aplicação de sanções. Aplicada às infrações e sanções administrativas, a teoria da discricionariedade apresenta peculiaridades não verificadas em outros campos, especialmente no que concerne aos conceitos jurídicos indeterminados. Assim, o capítulo I trata da estrutura constitucional do Estado brasileiro com indicação das principais funções por ele desempenhadas na criação, aplicação e controle das infrações e sanções administrativas. O capítulo II trata do princípio da segurança jurídica e do princípio da legalidade, como expressão do princípio democrático e fundamento da atividade administrativa. O capítulo III trata, particularmente, do controle jurisdicional e discricionariedade, com explicitação dos limites ao controle jurisdicional dos atos administrativos.O capítulo IV trata do regime jurídico aplicável às infrações e sanções administrativas, consideradas expressão do jus puniendi estatal. O capítulo V trata da discricionariedade aplicada ao direito administrativo sancionador, com considerações a respeito da utilização de conceitos jurídicos indeterminados na descrição de infrações. O capítulo VI trata de outros princípios a serem observados na imposição das sanções administrativas, todos eles passíveis de controle pelo Poder Judiciário. O capítulo VII trata das excludentes da infração e da questão da transmissibilidade das sanções administrativas a terceiros e por força da sucessão. Ao final são apresentadas as conclusões do estudo

A Suprema Corte dos Estados Unidos da América exige, para a configuração da sham litigation, exceção à imunidade antitruste do direito de petição prevista na doutrina Noerr-Pennington, que: (i) a ação ou petição objetivamente não tenha fundamentos, de maneira que nenhum litigante razoável possa esperar sucesso em seu mérito; e que (ii) o litigante possua motivação subjetiva que permita verificar se a ação ou petição camufla uma tentativa de interferir diretamente nas relações negociais de um concorrente. No Brasil, ao investigar e punir infrações anticoncorrenciais, o Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica CADE vem aplicando tais critérios, o que, além de cientificamente inadequado, carece de fundamentação legal no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, em possível restrição injustificada dos princípios da livre iniciativa e livre concorrência. Propõe-se, neste trabalho, que o abuso do direito de ação e/ou de petição instituto consagrado no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro , poderá ser considerado uma infração à ordem econômica passível de punição pelo CADE, se produzir ou puder produzir os efeitos previstos no caput do artigo 36 da Lei nº 12.529/2011. / For the configuration of sham litigation an exception to the right of petition immunity created by the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine the Supreme Court of the United States of America established the following requirements: (i) objective baseless claim, so that no reasonable litigant might expect success on the merits; and (ii) subjective motivation of the litigant, which enables to verify whether the baseless suit conceals an attempt to interfere directly with the business relationships of a competitor. In Brazil, in order to investigate and punish antitrust infringements, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense CADE has been applying the aforementioned criteria, which is scientifically inappropriate and baseless under the Brazilian legal system, and may result in an unjustified restriction of the principles of freedom of enterprise and freedom of competition. This thesis proposes that the abuse of the rights of action and petition institutions already enshrined in the Brazilian legal system may be considered infringements of the economic order punishable by CADE, if they produce or are able to produce the effects listed in Article 36, caput, of Law No. 12.529/2011.

This thesis presents the infringement procedures against Member States of the EU held before the Court of Justice of the EU. Particularly, it focuses on proceedings against the Czech Republic. The thesis analyses in detail the infringement procedure as such, including all conditions and requirements developed in case-law of the Court of Justice. Then it analyses concrete cases of actions brought against the Czech Republic.

A Suprema Corte dos Estados Unidos da América exige, para a configuração da sham litigation, exceção à imunidade antitruste do direito de petição prevista na doutrina Noerr-Pennington, que: (i) a ação ou petição objetivamente não tenha fundamentos, de maneira que nenhum litigante razoável possa esperar sucesso em seu mérito; e que (ii) o litigante possua motivação subjetiva que permita verificar se a ação ou petição camufla uma tentativa de interferir diretamente nas relações negociais de um concorrente. No Brasil, ao investigar e punir infrações anticoncorrenciais, o Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica CADE vem aplicando tais critérios, o que, além de cientificamente inadequado, carece de fundamentação legal no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, em possível restrição injustificada dos princípios da livre iniciativa e livre concorrência. Propõe-se, neste trabalho, que o abuso do direito de ação e/ou de petição instituto consagrado no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro , poderá ser considerado uma infração à ordem econômica passível de punição pelo CADE, se produzir ou puder produzir os efeitos previstos no caput do artigo 36 da Lei nº 12.529/2011. / For the configuration of sham litigation an exception to the right of petition immunity created by the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine the Supreme Court of the United States of America established the following requirements: (i) objective baseless claim, so that no reasonable litigant might expect success on the merits; and (ii) subjective motivation of the litigant, which enables to verify whether the baseless suit conceals an attempt to interfere directly with the business relationships of a competitor. In Brazil, in order to investigate and punish antitrust infringements, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense CADE has been applying the aforementioned criteria, which is scientifically inappropriate and baseless under the Brazilian legal system, and may result in an unjustified restriction of the principles of freedom of enterprise and freedom of competition. This thesis proposes that the abuse of the rights of action and petition institutions already enshrined in the Brazilian legal system may be considered infringements of the economic order punishable by CADE, if they produce or are able to produce the effects listed in Article 36, caput, of Law No. 12.529/2011.