<p>Diss. Stockholm :  Stockholm School of Economics, 2013. Introduction together with 3 papers.</p>

Enligt grundregeln i 1:5 2 st. 1 p. varumärkeslagen (2010:1877) (VML) är varukännetecken som endast består av tecken eller benämningar som visar en varas eller tjänsts geografiska ursprung inte särskiljande och uppfyller därmed inte kraven för att kunna varumärkesregistreras. Ett varumärke får heller inte registreras om det är ägnat att vilseleda allmänheten i fråga om varans eller tjänstens geografiska ursprung, 2:7 1 st. VML. Dessa två hindrande faktorer har genomsyrat den länge strikta bedömningen av geografiska namns särskiljningsförmåga som genom praxis de senaste åren lättats upp. Det råder dock alltjämt osäkerhet för i vilka fall ett varumärke innehållande ett geografiskt namn uppfyller kraven för registrering.  Varumärkesrätten har under de senaste åren genomgått en stor förändring. Tidigare krävdes starka bevis på flerårig inarbetning för att kunna erhålla ensamrätt till varumärke innehållande geografiska namn alternativt att känneteckensinnehavaren använde sig av namn på exempelvis berg eller floder som knappast kunde utgöra ett geografiskt ursprung för en vara eller tjänst. Det starka frihållningsbehovet med tanken att geografiska namn ska kunna användas fritt av alla har dragits tillbaka något, till förmån för möjligheten att registrera varumärken och därmed erhålla ensamrätt till vissa beteckningar. Den ensamrätt som erhålls vid registrering av ett beskrivande ord såsom ett geografiskt namn är dock begränsad, eftersom vissa beskrivande begrepp såsom geografiska namn ska kunna brukas av alla. Konflikten mellan varumärkesintrång och användande av delar av annans varumärke i enlighet med god affärssed är därför något svårdefinierad. Från att i princip endast vara möjligt att få registrering genom inarbetning eller vid användning av mycket okända geografiska namn eller osannolika ursprungsangivelser fäster man idag stor vikt vid bedömningen av om det finns ett samband mellan varumärkets berörda varor eller tjänster och den geografiska platsen. Det görs också en helhetsbedömning för att avgöra märkets särskiljningsförmåga.

The primary aim of a Performance Management System is the development of a process where goals are set based on the needs of the organisation, while taking the development needs of the individual into account. These goals are negotiated and finalised through a continuous process of communication between all interested parties. In Higher Education, students, other internal clients, managers/supervisors and functional experts evaluate performances against these set goals. A well-designed system, if applied correctly, will benefit employees at various levels. Individuals become involved in setting goals or objectives; this in turn becomes the basis of a performance agreement. Performance feedback is regularly given and in terms of specific scoreboards, these scoreboards, in turn, indicated to which extent the performance goals were met or not. Over-achievers are rewarded accordingly while individuals, who do not meet their performance goals, are assisted and development programmes are suggested to improve relevant performance. Higher Education Institutions, particularly in South Africa, have been very unenthusiastic in adopting and implementing Performance Management Systems, especially when it involves management and appraisal of academic staff at institutions of higher learning. A possible reason for this reluctance may be found with the high opinion placed on the concept of 'academic freedom', and specifically, the difficulties associated with 'measuring' excellence in academic outputs and pursuits, and 'measuring intellectual property'. The goal of this study is to address and solve the stated problem and to evaluate Performance Management Systems currently used in Higher Education, in an attempt to measure their contribution to the Human Resource Management process. This research study was undertaken with the aim of investigating current levels of satisfaction with Performance Management as applied to Higher Education Institutions. The Balanced Scorecard, a Management Accounting tool, was also examined with the idea of serving as a tool to measure the viability of Performance Management of academia in Higher Education Institutions. This research study formulated one main objective, and four secondary objectives. The main objective of this study was to determine, with Management Accounting as a tool, the viability of Performance Management for the academia in Higher Education in South Africa. The secondary objectives were summarised as follows: • A review of Performance Management Systems, • A comprehensive study of Performance Management Systems for academia in South Africa, • The impact of Performance Management on academic staff performance, and staff development, • An investigation into the Balanced Scorecard as a Management Accounting tool. A comprehensive literature review was conducted, and from the literature it became evident that Performance Management of academia in Higher Education Institutions is problematic. A questionnaire circulated to the academia of four Higher Education Institutions served as basis for the empirical section of this study. The empirical evidence gathered through the responses captured from the questionnaires suggested first hand that there is great dissatisfaction amongst academia regarding the Performance Management as applied to them. In this case the findings gathered from the empirical study corresponded with the findings from the literature review conducted for this study. Evidence gathered through the responses from the questionnaires suggested great dissatisfaction with the current Performance Management System and that academia is eager to investigate alternative methods of implementing Performance Management . The findings also suggested that the Balanced Scorecard, a Management Accounting tool, should be investigated further in an attempt to find an alternative method of Performance Management The findings of this study also identified areas for future possible research; there is a need for more extensive research studies to validate the use of the Balanced Scoreboard, a Management Accounting tool, as an alternative to the Performance Management Systems currently applied. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Management Accounting))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The primary aim of a Performance Management System is the development of a process where goals are set based on the needs of the organisation, while taking the development needs of the individual into account. These goals are negotiated and finalised through a continuous process of communication between all interested parties. In Higher Education, students, other internal clients, managers/supervisors and functional experts evaluate performances against these set goals. A well-designed system, if applied correctly, will benefit employees at various levels. Individuals become involved in setting goals or objectives; this in turn becomes the basis of a performance agreement. Performance feedback is regularly given and in terms of specific scoreboards, these scoreboards, in turn, indicated to which extent the performance goals were met or not. Over-achievers are rewarded accordingly while individuals, who do not meet their performance goals, are assisted and development programmes are suggested to improve relevant performance. Higher Education Institutions, particularly in South Africa, have been very unenthusiastic in adopting and implementing Performance Management Systems, especially when it involves management and appraisal of academic staff at institutions of higher learning. A possible reason for this reluctance may be found with the high opinion placed on the concept of 'academic freedom', and specifically, the difficulties associated with 'measuring' excellence in academic outputs and pursuits, and 'measuring intellectual property'. The goal of this study is to address and solve the stated problem and to evaluate Performance Management Systems currently used in Higher Education, in an attempt to measure their contribution to the Human Resource Management process. This research study was undertaken with the aim of investigating current levels of satisfaction with Performance Management as applied to Higher Education Institutions. The Balanced Scorecard, a Management Accounting tool, was also examined with the idea of serving as a tool to measure the viability of Performance Management of academia in Higher Education Institutions. This research study formulated one main objective, and four secondary objectives. The main objective of this study was to determine, with Management Accounting as a tool, the viability of Performance Management for the academia in Higher Education in South Africa. The secondary objectives were summarised as follows: • A review of Performance Management Systems, • A comprehensive study of Performance Management Systems for academia in South Africa, • The impact of Performance Management on academic staff performance, and staff development, • An investigation into the Balanced Scorecard as a Management Accounting tool. A comprehensive literature review was conducted, and from the literature it became evident that Performance Management of academia in Higher Education Institutions is problematic. A questionnaire circulated to the academia of four Higher Education Institutions served as basis for the empirical section of this study. The empirical evidence gathered through the responses captured from the questionnaires suggested first hand that there is great dissatisfaction amongst academia regarding the Performance Management as applied to them. In this case the findings gathered from the empirical study corresponded with the findings from the literature review conducted for this study. Evidence gathered through the responses from the questionnaires suggested great dissatisfaction with the current Performance Management System and that academia is eager to investigate alternative methods of implementing Performance Management . The findings also suggested that the Balanced Scorecard, a Management Accounting tool, should be investigated further in an attempt to find an alternative method of Performance Management The findings of this study also identified areas for future possible research; there is a need for more extensive research studies to validate the use of the Balanced Scoreboard, a Management Accounting tool, as an alternative to the Performance Management Systems currently applied. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Management Accounting))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The development of the global biotechnology industry largely coincided with the development of the US biotechnology industry. This resulted in this industry's oligopolistic and centralised nature where only a few multinational chemical and pharmaceutical companies control most biotechnology processes and production of commodities emanating from these processes. The governance of biotechnology has, until recently, been dominated by state actors who have endeavoured to secure national interests, including those of large multinational corporations (MNCs) based within their boundaries. The technological ability of developed states to exploit and use unevenly distributed resources to their advantage means that an uneven relationship exists between these and poor developing countries. This has been highlighted by differences in public opinion about the role and application of biotechnology in society. While some opinions favour the use and application of biotechnology to enhance food supplies and boost production levels and trade, other opinions caution against the possible hazards that genetically manipulated organisms (GMOs) hold for the environment and human existence. The commercialisation of biotechnology has resulted in the exponential growth of genetically manipulated crops in especially the United States and countries like Argentina and Canada. These countries produce large surpluses of staple grains such as corn and soya and try to sell these to countries with food supply problems. The clash in commercial interests stemming from developed countries' insistence on the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) on genetically manipulated (GM) seeds has caused considerable conflict with poor farmers who will not be able to sustain their livelihoods if they cannot save seeds for future harvests. This is one aspect of the problems surrounding the protection of knowledge products that is exacerbated by the scientific uncertainty pertaining to the risk involved with biotechnology. While some observers agitate for precaution with the use of GMOs, others feel that a lack of scientific proof of harm is sufficient grounds for proceeding with developments in biotechnology. Conversely, there are some that feel that biotechnology is market driven instead of human needs driven, ultimately resulting in developing countries receiving very little benefit from it. The Cartagena Protocol on biosafety was drafted to address some of the difficulties involved with the transboundary movement of GMOs. Although it holds very specific advantages for developing countries, as a regulatory framework it is limited in its scope and application. Developing countries are limited in their policy options to address their need to protect biodiversity and secure their food supply. This means that considerable challenges and constraints await these countries in utilising global governance of public goods and building their human and technological capacities. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die ontwikkeling van die globale biotegnologie-industrie het grootliks saamgeval met die ontwikkeling van die Verenigde State se biotegnologie-industrie. Dit het aanleiding gegee tot hierdie industrie se oligopolistiese en gesentraliseerde aard waar slegs enkele multinasionale chemiese en farmaseutiese maatskappye die meeste biotegnologie prosesse en die vervaardiging van kommoditeite uit daardie prosesse beheer. Die regering van biotegnologie was tot onlangs oorheers deur staatsakteurs wie gepoog het om nasionale belange te beskerm, insluitend die belange van multinasionale korporasies (MNK) wat vanuit hulle grondgebied funksioneer. Die tegnologiese vermoë van ontwikkelde state om oneweredig verspreide hulpbronne tot eie gewin te benut beteken dat 'n ongelyke verhouding bestaan tussen hierdie en arm ontwikkelende state. Dit word beklemtoon deur verskille in openbare mening oor die rol en aanwending van biotegnologie in die samelewing. Terwyl sekere opinies ten gunste van die aanwending van biotegnologie vir die verbetering van voedselbronne en produksievlakke en handel is, dui ander opinies op die moontlike gevare wat geneties gemanipuleerde organismes (GMOs) vir die omgewing en menslike voortbestaan inhou. Die kommersialisering van biotegnologie het gelei tot die eksponensiële groei van geneties gemanipuleerde gewasse in veral die Verenigde State en state soos Argentinië en Kanada. Hierdie state produseer groot hoeveelhede stapelgrane soos mielies en soja en poog om dit te verkoop aan state met voedselvoorsieningsprobleme. Die botsing in kommersiële belange wat spruit uit ontwikkelde state se aandrang op die beskerming van intellektuele eiendomsreg op geneties gemanipuleerde saad veroorsaak beduidende konflik met arm landbouers wie nie hulle lewensonderhoud kan verseker as hulle nie saad kan berg vir toekomstige saaiseisoene nie. Dit is een aspek van die problematiek rondom die beskerming van kennisprodukte wat vererger word deur die wetenskaplike onsekerheid wat gepaard gaan met die risiko's van biotegnologie. Terwyl sekere waarnemers vir waaksaamheid pleit in die gebruik van GMOs, is daar ander wat voel dat 'n gebrek aan wetenskaplike bewyse van skade genoegsame gronde is vir die voortsetting van ontwikkelings in biotegnologie. Insgelyks is daar diegene wat meen dat biotegnologie markgedrewe in plaas van menslike behoefte gedrewe is, wat uiteindelik daartoe lei dat ontwikkelende state baie min voordeel daaruit trek. Die Kartagena Protokoloor bioveiligheid is opgestel om van die probleme betrokke by die oorgrens verskuiwing van GMOs aan te spreek. Hoewel dit spesifieke voordele vir ontikkelende state inhou is dit as reguleringsraamwerk beperk in omvang en aanwending. Ontwikkelende state het beperkte beleidsopsies om hulle behoefte om biodiversiteit te beskerm en voedselvoorsiening te verseker, aan te spreek. Dit beteken dat beduidende uitdagings en beperkings hierdie state in die benutting van globale regering van openbare goedere vir die bou van menslike en tegnologiese kapasiteite in die gesig staar.

<p>This thesis was written in the contemplation of the idea that, it is only through protection of the traditional knowledge in African local societies where these societies can rip the benefit of its commercialization and non-commercialization. It was thus centered on the emphasis that, while the African countries are still insisting on the need to have amendments done to the TRIPS Agreement, they should also establish regulations in their domestic laws to protect traditional knowledge from being pirated. This emphasis was mainly raised at this time due to the wide spread of bio-piracy in African local societies by the Western Multinational Pharmaceutical Corporations.</p>

The thesis is an exploration of how indigenous knowledge has emerged as a subject within Australian intellectual property law. It uses the context of copyright law to illustrate this development. The work presents an analysis of the political, social and cultural intersections that influence legal possibilities and effect practical expectations of the law in this area. The dilemma of protecting indigenous knowledge resonates with tensions that characterise intellectual property as a whole. The metaphysical dimensions of intellectual property have always been insecure but these difficulties come to the fore with the identification of boundaries and markers that establish property in indigenous subject matter. While intellectual property law is always managing difference, the politics of law are more transparent when managing indigenous concerns. Rather than assume the naturalness of the category of indigenous knowledge within law, this work interrogates the politics of its construction precisely as a ???special??? category. Employing a multidisciplinary methodology, engaging theories of governmental rationality that draws upon the scholarship of Michel Foucault to appreciate strategies of managing and directing knowledge, the thesis considers how the politics of law is infused by cultural, political, bureaucratic and individual factors. Key elements in Australia that have pushed the law to consider expressions of indigenous knowledge in intellectual property can be located in changing political environments, governmental intervention through strategic reports, cultural sensitivity articulated in case law and innovative instances of individual agency. The intersection of these elements reveals a dynamic that exerts influence in the shape the law takes.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Information and Communication Sciences, Department of Computing, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 144-153. / Introduction -- Background -- Overview of watermarking -- Natural language watermarking -- Software watermarking -- Semi-blind and reversible database watermarking -- Blind and reversible database watermarking -- Conclusion and future research -- Bibliography. / Digital watermarking has generated significant research and commercial interest in the past decade. The primary factors contributing to this surge are widespread use of the Internet with improved bandwidth and speed, regional copyright loopholes in terms of legislation; and seamless distribution of multimedia content due to peer-to-peer file-sharing applications. -- Digital watermarking addresses the issue of establishing ownership over mul-timedia content through embedding a watermark inside the object. Ideally, this watermark should be detectable and/or extractable, survive attacks such as digital reproduction and content-specific manipulations such as re-sizing in the case of images, and be invisible to the end-user so that the quality of the content is not degraded significantly. During detection or extraction, the only requirements should be the secret key and the watermarked multimedia object, and not the original un-marked object or the watermark inserted. Watermarking scheme that facilitate this requirement are categorized as blind. In recent times, reversibility of watermark has also become an important criterion. This is due to the fact that reversible watermarking schemes can provided security against secondary watermarking attacks by using backtracking algorithms to identify the rightful owner. A watermarking scheme is said to be reversible if the original unmarked object can be regenerated from the watermarked copy and the secret key. / This research covers three multimedia content types: natural language documents, software, and databases; and discusses the current watermarking scenario, challenges, and our contribution to the field. We have designed and implemented a natural language watermarking scheme that uses the redundancies in natural languages. As a result, it is robust against general attacks against text watermarks. It offers additional strength to the scheme by localizing the attack to the modified section and using error correction codes to detect the watermark. Our first contribution in software watermarking is identification and exploitation of weaknesses in branch-based software watermarking scheme proposed in [71] and the software watermarking algorithm we present is an improvised version of the existing watermarking schemes from [71]. Our scheme survives automated debugging attacks against which the current schemes are vulnerable, and is also secure against other software-specific attacks. We have proposed two database watermarking schemes that are both reversible and therefore resilient against secondary watermarking attacks. The first of these database watermarking schemes is semi-blind and requires the bits modified during the insertion algorithm to detect the watermark. The second scheme is an upgraded version that is blind and therefore does not require anything except a secret key and the watermarked relation. The watermark has a 89% probability of survival even when almost half of the data is manipulated. The watermarked data in this case is extremely useful from the users' perspective, since query results are preserved (i.e., the watermarked data gives the same results for a query as the nmarked data). -- The watermarking models we have proposed provide greater security against sophisticated attacks in different domains while providing sufficient watermark-carrying capacity at the same time. The false-positives are extremely low in all the models, thereby making accidental detection of watermark in a random object almost negligible. Reversibility has been facilitated in the later watermarking algorithms and is a solution to the secondary watermarking attacks. We shall address reversibility as a key issue in our future research, along with robustness, low false-positives and high capacity. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xxiv, 156 p. ill. (some col.)

Thesis (LL.M.). / Written for the Institute of Comparative Law. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/07/28). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 148-155). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.