This thesis explores James Macpherson’s The Highlander (1758) in relation to originality, Scottish identity and historiography. It also situates the Ossianic Collections in the context of Macpherson’s earlier poetical and later historical works. There are three parts to it: a biographical sketch of Macpherson’s early life, the annotated edition of The Highlander, and discursive commentary chapters. By examining The Highlander in detail this thesis questions the emphasis of other Macpherson criticism on the Ossianic Collections, and allows us to see him as a writer who is historically minded, very aware of sources, well versed in established forms of poetry and thoroughly, and positively, British. The Highlander stands out among the corpus of his works not because it can give us insights into the Ossianic Collections, which is its usual function in Macpherson criticism, but because it can help us understand what it is that connects Macpherson’s earlier and later works with the Ossianic Collections: history, Britishness, tradition. Macpherson’s poetical works are united by a desire to translate Scotland’s factual past into sentimental British poetry. In the Ossianic Collections he does so without particular faithfulness to his sources, but in The Highlander he converts historical sources directly into neo-classic verse. This is where Macpherson’s originality lies: his ability to adapt history. In different styles and genres, and based on different sources, Macpherson’s works are early examples of Scotland’s great literary achievement: historical fiction. Instead of accusing him of forgery or trying to trace his knowledge of Gaelic ballads, this thesis presents Macpherson as a genuine historian who happened to write in a variety of genres.

À la lecture de la Loi sur le droit d'auteur, il n'est pas clair que la mise en scène y soit protégée. C'est pourquoi nous nous questionnons sur la qualification juridique la plus adéquate pour la mise en scène. Le metteur en scène est-il un artiste-interprète ou un auteur? Après avoir étudié les caractéristiques artistiques des mises en scène, par types de productions et à la lumière de facteurs faisant varier la latitude du metteur en scène, nous étudions les différentes possibilités de qualification juridique de la mise en scène. Les possibilités sont vastes, car le metteur en scène évolue dans un cadre comprenant plusieurs intervenants. De plus, la mise en scène rencontre deux obstacles caractéristiques à sa qualification juridique en droit d'auteur: la fixation et l'originalité. Nous en venons à la conclusion que le metteur en scène est un auteur, car chacun des aspects de la mise en scène serait protégeable sous différentes qualifications juridiques. / Stage directions are not c1early protected under the current wording of the Copyright Law. This is why we wonder which legal qualification would be most appropriate. Is the stage director a performer or an author? We study the possibilities of legal qualification for stage direction, according to its artistic characteristics by production types, and considering the different factors which influence the Stage Director's liberty as well. The possibilities are vast since the Stage Director works in collaboration with several other intervening parties. Also, the Stage Director meets two typical obstacles: fixation and originality. We conclude that the Stage Director is an author because each and every aspect of the stage directions are copyrightable, under different legal qualifications.

This thesis deals with the so called "positive aspects" of dyslexia, specifically enhanced creativity in dyslexics. It has recently become common to associate dyslexia not only with its symptoms and deficits, but also to emphasize its possible gains. Anecdotal evidence refers to enhanced creativity and more specific abilities of individuals with dyslexia. Based on the results of foreign studies that suggest a relationship between dyslexia and increased creativity, this research study was carried out in the environment of Czech secondary schools. The research group consisted of 67 adolescents with dyslexia and 67 intact counterparts at the age range from 17 to 20 years (including 108 boys and 26 girls). The data were obtained via figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. We then compared levels obtained within experimental and comparison groups in three specific fields - originality, elaboration and provision of non-standard and unusual responses. This was to lead to confirmation (or refusal) of a presumption that dyslexics show significantly higher scores in all three areas. Although the overall results of the research did not demonstrate a significant difference between the groups, we observed a trend indicating a higher score in dyslexics in all the defined areas. Results of our research study...

La prééminence française en matière de luxe alimentaire est souvent présentée comme une évidence. Pourtant il a existé et il existe d’autres cultures du luxe alimentaire dans le monde. Alors, pourquoi et comment la culture française du luxe alimentaire s’est-elle différenciée des autres en s’affirmant et en étant reconnue comme singulière ? Derrière l’apparente évidence, Il importe de démontrer et d’expliquer l’hypothèse d’une singularité française en matière de luxe alimentaire. Celle-ci est aujourd’hui remise en cause, en raison même de l’extension de son marché liée à l’industrialisation de sa production, à la diversification de ses circuits de distribution et à l’internationalisation de sa consommation, ainsi qu’à la montée d’une nouvelle concurrence et à l’évolution de la société. Alors, est-il toujours pertinent de parler de « luxe alimentaire français » ? Au-delà du marketing, cette question soulève le problème du maintien d’une créativité, d’une culture de consommation et d’un savoir-faire spécifiquement français. La valorisation patrimoniale et touristique des lieux de production contribue aujourd’hui à la reconnaissance de l’originalité, de la rareté et de l’excellence des produits alimentaires de luxe. Elle est aussi un outil de développement territorial. / The prominence of France in the food luxury sector is often presented as a given. But other food luxury cultures have existed and still exist. So why and how has the French culture of food luxury differentiated itself from others by affirming itself and being recognized as a singularity? Behind the seeming evidence, it is important to demonstrate and explain the hypothesis of a French singularity in the matter of food luxury. Today, this singularity is called into question because of its own market extension linked to the industrialization of its production, to the diversification of its distribution channels, to the international reach of its consumption, as well as to the rise of a new competition and the evolution of society. So is it still relevant today to talk about "French food luxury"? Beyond marketing, this raises the challenge of maintaining a creativity, a culture of consumption and a know-how quintessentially French. Today, the patrimonial and touristic valuation of the production sites contributes to the recognition of originality, rarity and excellence of luxury food products. This valuation is also a mean for territorial development.

La question de l’originalité dans le roman contemporain : identification des caractéristiques stylistiques dans trois oeuvres : La Place d’Annie Ernaux, Lac de Jean Echenoz et La Place de l’étoile de Patrick Modiano est un travail qui consiste à mener des analyses sur la spécificité du roman français aujourd’hui. Ce travail s’appuie sur trois principaux axes dont le premier consiste à identifier les rapports d’influence et d’intertextualité qui relient les textes de nos auteurs à leurs prédécesseurs. Le roman puise sa matière dans le patrimoine littéraire et il se transforme progressivement par l’acte d’écriture. Annie Ernaux, Jean Echenoz et Patrick Modiano sont des auteurs atypiques qui ont su extraire de l’héritage littéraire une véritable source d’inspiration. Pour le montrer, nous avons mené une étude analytique des procédés d’écriture utilisés par chaque écrivain. Leur particularité réside dans la vision personnelle et l’univers de chaque auteur / The subject of originality in the contemporary novel: identification of stylistics caracteristics in the three works of Annie Ernaux, Jean Echenoz and Patrick Modiano. This work consists in a relevant analysis of the stylistic features of the French novel these days. This work is based upon three approaches whose the first consist in identifying the relation of influence and intertextuality which link the texts of ours authors with the texts of their predecessors. The novel takes its roots in the literary heritage, and then it transforms itself progressively through the writing act. We have seen that Annie Ernaux, Jean Echenoz and Patrick Modiano are atypical authors who have been able to extract from the literary heritage its very substance in order to produce a masterpiece. In addition, we have conducted an analytical study of the writing methods used by each one of these authors

L'avènement des technologies numériques, notamment des réseaux numériques, a servi de prétexte pour introduire dans le droit d'auteur des réformes qui mènent à une mutation profonde de ce droit. Un précédent a été créé par l'inclusion des logiciels et des bases de données électroniques dans son champ de protection ; ce sont de créations strictement fonctionnelles, qui ne devraient pas appartenir à la catégorie « oeuvre de l'esprit ». Cela ne pouvait qu'engendrer une distorsion du critère de l'originalité. En outre, la nature de ces objets imposera d'adapter le régime juridique ainsi que les règles de titularité. Naquit ainsi, au sein du droit d'auteur classique, un paradigme spécial que tout rapproche du copyright américain. Centré sur l'investisseur et sur la notion de fixation, il est désormais en train de contaminer le droit d'auteur. Au demeurant, on ne peut négliger l'influence capitale du copyright américain dans tout ce processus de construction et d'extension puisque certains de ses concepts et principes se retrouvent aujourd'hui dans le droit d'auteur. On assiste à un véritable mouvement de déconstruction du droit d'auteur personnaliste hérité de la Révolution française et dont l'apogée fut la loi du 11 mars 1957. Nous mettrons en évidence les divers facteurs qui ont agi et qui agissent conjointement aux niveaux national, communautaire et international, tout en démontrant que si l'environnement numérique pose certes des difficultés pour l'exploitation des oeuvres de l'esprit, le droit d'auteur, centré sur l'auteur et fondé sur la notion de communication au public, était bel et bien capable d'y faire face sans avoir besoin d'ébranler ses assises / The advent of digital technologies, including digital networks, served as a pretext to introduce author's right reforms that lead to a profound change in this right. A precedent was set with the inclusion of software and electronic databases in the field of protection as these are strictly functional creations that should not belong to the category of "oeuvre de l'esprit". This inclusion leads to a distortion of the criteria of originality as well as the need to change both the rules of ownership and the legal regime of author's rights. Consequently a special paradigm, similar to U.S. copyright, is born inside the classical author's right system. Focused on the investor and in the notion of fixation, this special right of sotware and database now contaminates the author's right system. We cannot ignore the important influence of American concept of copyright in the whole process of construction and expansion of this special paradigm as some of its concepts and principles are reflected in today's notion of author's rights. We are witnessing a movement of deconstruction of the author's rights personalist legacy of the French Revolution which culminated in the Act of 11 March 1957. We will highlight the various factors that have acted and act jointly at national, EU and international level to produce this result, while demonstrating that while the digital environment certainly poses difficulties for the use of works of authorship, the author's right, author-centered and based on the notion of communication to the public, would indeed be able to cope with digital environment without the need to undermine its foundations

À la lecture de la Loi sur le droit d'auteur, il n'est pas clair que la mise en scène y soit protégée. C'est pourquoi nous nous questionnons sur la qualification juridique la plus adéquate pour la mise en scène. Le metteur en scène est-il un artiste-interprète ou un auteur? Après avoir étudié les caractéristiques artistiques des mises en scène, par types de productions et à la lumière de facteurs faisant varier la latitude du metteur en scène, nous étudions les différentes possibilités de qualification juridique de la mise en scène. Les possibilités sont vastes, car le metteur en scène évolue dans un cadre comprenant plusieurs intervenants. De plus, la mise en scène rencontre deux obstacles caractéristiques à sa qualification juridique en droit d'auteur: la fixation et l'originalité. Nous en venons à la conclusion que le metteur en scène est un auteur, car chacun des aspects de la mise en scène serait protégeable sous différentes qualifications juridiques. / Stage directions are not c1early protected under the current wording of the Copyright Law. This is why we wonder which legal qualification would be most appropriate. Is the stage director a performer or an author? We study the possibilities of legal qualification for stage direction, according to its artistic characteristics by production types, and considering the different factors which influence the Stage Director's liberty as well. The possibilities are vast since the Stage Director works in collaboration with several other intervening parties. Also, the Stage Director meets two typical obstacles: fixation and originality. We conclude that the Stage Director is an author because each and every aspect of the stage directions are copyrightable, under different legal qualifications.

Esta dissertação visa a discutir a noção e os limites da originalidade como requisito material para obtenção de registros de desenhos industriais. Começando com a originalidade no texto da Lei n. 9.279/96 e fazendo algumas distinções adotadas pela doutrina e jurisprudência, passa-se para a fundamentação da originalidade no texto constitucional. Aborda-se em seguida os diversos aspectos relativos direta e indiretamente à originalidade no exame de mérito e validade dos registros de desenho industrial, bem como nas ações de infração. Por fim, são identificados os critérios fundamentais para averiguação da distinguibilidade dos desenhos e busca-se aplicar algumas das conclusões parciais a casos práticos. / This dissertation aims at discussing the notion and boundaries of originality as a material requisite for the validity of industrial design registration. By starting with the originality in the text of Federal Law No. n. 9.279/96 and making some distinctions adopted by doctrine and case law, the work moves to the concept of originality in the constitutional text. In sequence, the diverse aspects related directly and indirectly to the originality in the exam of merits and validity of industrial design registrations are viewed, as well as in the infringement lawsuits. Ultimately, this work searches the fundamental criteria for evaluating the distinctiveness of the designs and aims at applying some of the conclusions reached to practical scenarios.

The thesis argues that there is a pressure on the authorship concept since the emergence of collections of facts, anthologies, and adaptations of pre-existing works. These works were the reason that Judges offered various interpretations to authorship and originality, as some Judges lessened the requirement of originality to obtain copyrightability for these works and some raised it. This led to make the protection granted by copyright law to intellectual works vague and uncertain. This became apparent in conflicts in courts decisions on copyright subsistence in works. This subsequently led to confusion around the criteria of interpretation that should be adopted and the theory or justification that copyright law is founded upon. The thesis argues that this vagueness and uncertainty is related not to the authorship concept but to the failure of law to adapt to two separate natures of works, one including authorial, mental and personal contribution and the other only including manually skilful contribution. Those two kinds cannot be subject to same principles or justifications of protection. The inexistence of such differentiation in doctrine, judiciary and legislation led to the distortion of authorship and originality concepts in the attempts to reduce their interpretation to suit those works that actually miss authorial contribution. Alternatively, whole attention was paid to granting ownership to right holders of these works, which led to the prevalence of the ownership concept as being a necessity for the marketability of cultural works over the authorship concept. The thesis finds that this difference in nature can be uncovered by settling on a differentiation between two kinds of skills that are used in creating works: the mental skills, which are authorial skills, on the one side, and manual skills, which are the collecting, combining, performing or executing skills, on the other. Accordingly, this thesis proposes a categorisation of works, that of ‘high, low and non-authorship’ works, which relies on the nature of the works and elements of authorship in the work. The thesis finds that every category of works needs a separate criterion that can suit its nature and constituent authorship elements; also, the protection needs to be graded depending on the level of authorship in the work. This thesis suggests that such a legal proposition be implemented digitally in what it calls the ‘Digital Cultural National Gate’, which decides the category the work should belong to and the correspondent protection, and that through some questionnaires on the work the authorship elements can be recognised.

Esta dissertação visa a discutir a noção e os limites da originalidade como requisito material para obtenção de registros de desenhos industriais. Começando com a originalidade no texto da Lei n. 9.279/96 e fazendo algumas distinções adotadas pela doutrina e jurisprudência, passa-se para a fundamentação da originalidade no texto constitucional. Aborda-se em seguida os diversos aspectos relativos direta e indiretamente à originalidade no exame de mérito e validade dos registros de desenho industrial, bem como nas ações de infração. Por fim, são identificados os critérios fundamentais para averiguação da distinguibilidade dos desenhos e busca-se aplicar algumas das conclusões parciais a casos práticos. / This dissertation aims at discussing the notion and boundaries of originality as a material requisite for the validity of industrial design registration. By starting with the originality in the text of Federal Law No. n. 9.279/96 and making some distinctions adopted by doctrine and case law, the work moves to the concept of originality in the constitutional text. In sequence, the diverse aspects related directly and indirectly to the originality in the exam of merits and validity of industrial design registrations are viewed, as well as in the infringement lawsuits. Ultimately, this work searches the fundamental criteria for evaluating the distinctiveness of the designs and aims at applying some of the conclusions reached to practical scenarios.