COMPARATIVE ADVERTISEMENT - THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGULATION IN THE CZECH LEGAL ORDER My thesis is aimed particularly to analyse the existing legal regulations on the comparative advertising in the Czech Republic with a view to its comprehensive treatment in the Community law and to summarize the history of the Czech laws not only of the comparative advertising evolution, but also an unfair competition or an unfair advertising in general, as the legislation governing the comparative advertising did not exist until 2001 and particularly the comparative advertising was usually qualified as an unfair competition. The work is divided into seven chapters. First two chapters briefly depict general characteristics of both the economic competition and an unfair competition terms and concepts. The third chapter is devoted to advertising in general. Chapters Four and Five form the core of the thesis. They are dedicated to the phenomenon of the comparative advertising and legislation prevailing in the Czech Republic. In Chapter Four, varying attitudes of different rules of law to comparative advertising are discussed in Section 4.1, and Section 4.2 summarizes the different types of comparative advertising. Section 4.3 is dedicated to the evolution of the legislation on unfair competition or an unfair...

RESUMÉ The concept of an average consumer in Czech and European law The aim of this diploma thesis called "The concept of an average consumer in Czech and European law" is to describe current trends in conceptualization this term. Methods used in this diploma thesis to achieve the defined objectives are the analysis of Czech and European legislation and both Czech and Communitarian case law. There were used monographic and comparative methods too. The initial part of the thesis describes the terms consumer and the average consumer are affected by secondary Communitarian legislation and case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union as well as by the case law of courts of the European Union members states. Another aim of the diploma thesis is to highlight that the model of average consumer needs to be viewed differently depending on in which area of economic competition it is currently located at. It is subjected to diverse claims in various areas. This was proved by several judicial cases. The function of the model of average consumer is to be a substitute for all consumers. Consumers' protection is provided through this model. As it is important to emphasize, the average consumer is just a model and does not strictly remain a legal person. The case analysis and comparisons led to the definition of...

1 The concept of an average consumer under Czech and European law RESUMÉ: The thesis is focused on the role of a so called average consumer under the law of unfair competition; namely concerning advertising and misleading labelling. The concept of an average consumer is being analysed under written law as well as in jurisprudence. The Czech and European laws are emphasized but other legal systems are also mentioned. A description of a current situation and history of the concept are accompanied by considerations de lege ferenda. Mainly the term consumer is being criticized as not quite suitable within the context of unfair competition. Unlike under the contract law, here the consumer does not represent an acting entity but a target or a prey. The current trend of weakening consumer's position-and therefore exaggeration's easing in advertising-is also criticized. Generally speaking, the advertising as such is being denounced; in particular because it harms the consumer and thus it is buck passing to speak about a consumer's protection while protecting and helping a competitor in reality. The thesis deals with practical impacts of misleading labelling on a consumer (and/or a competitor). According to its own methodology, it divides the misleading labelling into three categories: promotional, unsatisfactory...

The aim of this thesis is to examine trademarks and the possibilities of their application and use in the context of business competition. Trademarks are used widely in business and form part of an important and independent branch of the law. The thesis is divided into seven chapters. The first deals with the inclusion of trademark law into the broader area of intellectual property law. The following chapter describes the concepts of trademarks and legal sources. The law of trademarks is divided into a three level jurisdictional system - international, European and domestic law. The chapter also discusses the division of trademarks and describes their function. The conclusion of the chapter is devoted to the reasons for the refusal of registration of trademarks - namely absolute and relative. The third chapter focuses on the ways how trademark law is established. The establishment of trademarks is fundamentally based on the principle of registration. The exception is well known trademarks, which enjoy legal protection despite not being registered. The chapter is divided into three parts dealing with the registration procedure at the domestic, European and international level. In contrast, the fourth chapter contains circumstances under which trademarks lapse and are no longer in effect. The...

The topic of this diploma thesis is the relationship between rights of designation and unfair competition law. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first two chapters define rights of designation and unfair competition law in general and the following chapters concentrate on the relationship between them. The first chapter focuses initially on the place of rights of designation in the system of intellectual propert y law and afterwards it concentrates on particular rights of designation, i.e. trademark, designation of origin and geographical indication. This chapter deals with characteristic features of the rights of designation and differences between them and national, international and european legislation. The emphasis is also put on current issues, that are related to the rights of designation. Chapter two is devoted to unfair competition law. This chapter focuses on legislation of unfair competition and the concept on which unfair competition law is based (that is combination of general clause and non-exhausting list of merits). Subsequently, it defines subjects of the unfair competition and claims that a subject affected by the unfair competition can make. The third chapter, which presents crucial part of this thesis, concetrates on the relationship between rights of designation and...

1 Abstract The crime of breach of regulations on rules of economic competition This thesis deals with the crime of breach of regulations on rules of economic competition under section 248 of the Criminal Code. This section consists of four separated crimes, where the author focuses only on the crime of unfair competition and the crime of conclusion of cartel agreement. In the first chapter the author concisely describes the historical background which is notable especially for legislation from period of the First Czechoslovak Republic. The author considers its significance mainly since the then Unfair Competition Act has been a source for the current provisions on unfair competition in the Civil Code. Moreover, the author intended to point out a very different rationale and approach to cartels under the then Act on Cartels in comparison with contemporary legal situation. After a general description of the elements of the crime in question in sense of systematic classification and introduction of its main issues the author presents two criminal law principles, i.e. subsidiarity of prosecution in criminal law and requirement of nullum crimen sine lege certa. The author examines both crimes in the light of these two principles throughout his whole thesis. In the third chapter the author inquires into legal...

The diploma thesis concentrates on the topic of trademarks in the context of the economic competition. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the general perspective on the trademarks and to the national and international legislation regulating the usage of trademarks. The second part of the thesis analyses the function and usage the trademarks in the context of the economic competition. The thesis is divided into 6 chapters. The first chapter focuses on the definition of the institute of a trademark and on its position in the system of intellectual property law. In addition, it provides an insight into the primary sources related to trademarks including the legislative norms and case-law. Moreover, the first chapter contains also a typological and functional classification of the trademarks and outlines the absolute and relative reasons for refusal to register a trademark and therefore for the denial to provide legal protection of this institute. The conclusion of the chapter is devoted to the various forms of expiry of the trademarks such as cancellation or expiration. Chapter two concentrates on the impact of the legal institute of a trademark. In particular, it focuses on the rights and duties of the owner of a trademark including the limitations of the intellectual property law imbued in a...

Resumé European Law against Unfair Competition This thesis focuses on the regulation of law against unfair competition adopted on the European Union level. The thesis is composed of two parts - the first one introduces legislative regulation of law against unfair competition, the second part analyses legal regulation of misleading and comparative advertisement as the examples of merits of unfair competition. The first part of the thesis firstly overviews the law against unfair competition on the international level; the core of the thesis, however, lies in the overview of legislation adopted by the European Union. Within the summary of the European legislation it firstly introduces the background for the legislative activity of the European Union in the field of unfair competition. Subsequently, it is followed up by the overview of directives with the primary aim to protect European businesses and consumers against unfair competition. When introducing the directives it emphasises mainly the findings whether it was adopted under minimum or maximum harmonisation, therefore to which extend the member state legislators are free to diverge from the regulation adopted by the European Union. The aim of the forth chapter is to look at the law against unfair competition as a part of private law. The second part of...

This thesis deals with the legal regulation of comparative advertising in the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. The aim of this thesis is to explain the correspondences and differences between the legal regulation of comparative advertising in the Czech Republic and Germany using analysis and comparison with particular focus on the European regulation of this institute. The first chapter presents the underlying theoretical system and sets the examined institute into the general framework of legal order. It defines the terms advertising and comparative advertising. Emphasis is put on explaining different approaches of legal orders to comparative advertising as a foundation for an analysis in subsequent parts of this thesis. The first chapter also introduces types of comparative advertising distinguished by doctrine. The second chapter is, due to the irreplaceable position of European legal regulation, dedicated to the genesis of legal regulation of comparative advertising in the European law. This section contains an analysis of single directives and their effects in chronological order. The third chapter uses the knowledge of European law to analyse the evolution of legal regulation of comparative advertising in national legal orders of the Czech Republic and Germany. Historical...

Domain names in the Czech legal system The aim of this work is to introduce readers to the topic of domain names themselves with a necessary technical overlap, their legal regulation in the Czech legal framework, including a general analysis of particular legal institutes used for their protection (namely trademarks, unfair competition, name of an individual and name of a legal entity), and finally to outline the ways and development of the settlement of disputes arising from them before the judicial and extrajudicial bodies. The first chapter of the thesis covers the concept of domain names as such from a technical point of view. There is described the domain name function in the Internet and the domain name system as well, consisting of top level domains of different types with their specifics. Consequently are there through domain name registration covered domain name disputes in a global context, including the individual causes (types) of these disputes, and finally concludes with the description of a specific form of alternative dispute resolution called UDRP. The second, most extensive chapter is dedicated to the legal regulation of domain names in the Czech legal framework itself. The chapter begins with theoretical concept of domain names from the legal point of view and its historical...