A multinational enterprise may adopt a tax avoidance mechanism under the contribution of paid-in capital to its subsidiary in Taiwan is decreased, while increasing its loans to the subsidiary as much as possible. This may result in the minimization of the taxable income of the subsidiary through the increase in interest expense deduction of the subsidiary. Under such an arrangement, non-deductible dividend payments are replaced with deductible interest payments. Anti-thin capitalization that was originated from the arm's length principle is adopted from Article 9(1) of the OECD Model Tax Convention. Many countries set a fixed debt-equity ratio as a safe harbor to anti-tax avoidance. In this paper, we use factor analysis to find the optimal debt-equity ratio under the optimal capital structure model. The purpose of this study is to find an optimal debt-equity ratio and propose suggestions in order to revise the law and advance tax system.

“Human trafficking” has become part of the everyday lexicon in the United States and globally over the last fifteen years. The issue has made its way into political platforms, scholarly work, church congregations, and international aid agendas. Florida is currently recognized as third in the nation for number of cases of human trafficking. This thesis employs ethnographic interviews and observations to understand one portion of Florida’s human trafficking problem referred to as domestic minor sex trafficking. This type of trafficking affects mostly teenage girls from marginalized populations, such as those that have experienced the child welfare system, homelessness, and impoverished circumstances. In 2013 the state passed the Florida Safe Harbor Act, modeled after the New York State Safe Harbour for Exploited Children Act, to address the needs of this population through legislation. The Act specifies certain policy and procedural changes, as well as the role of the Department of Children and Families. Further, it prohibits minors from facing prostitution charges, recognizing that they cannot consent to commercial sex because of their age. This study investigates the Safe Harbor Act’s impact on agencies and the public in terms of raising awareness about domestic minor sex trafficking. With no immediate funding attached to the bill, or dedicated in the state budget, Florida is still struggling to provide adequate care for this population. In addition to policy analysis, this study examined existing services, assessed current needs in the field, and created an interactive map to locate services for professionals working in the field. While Florida has clearly improved its ability to manage these cases over the last three years, there is still much work to be done to address domestic minor sex trafficking. Based on these findings, this thesis offers recommendations for policy and further research on successful practices in working with this population’s specific needs.

No description available.

The chicken is a classic model organism that has provided key insights into embryonic development. Chicken embryos can be directly manipulated and observed during development while retaining the potential to reach adulthood. Despite this benefit, the utility of the chicken in studying development has been limited by the difficulty of introducing genetic changes to the genome. The recent development of cell culture conditions for chicken primordial germ cells (cPGC) has made it feasible to produce transgenic chickens, but there is still a lack of tools for introducing genetic modifications into cPGCs. Recombinase Mediated Cassette Exchange (RMCE) is a technique that has been utilized in traditional genetic systems to generate multiple alleles at a given locus but has not yet been adapted to the chicken. In order to use RMCE in the chicken, we inserted Lox sites into cPGC using CRISPR/Cas9. We targeted the ovalbumin locus and potential genomic safe harbor sites (GSH) identified using genomic data. We performed RMCE to exchange green fluorescent protein (GFP) into these loci. We observed RMCE efficiency as less than 1% at each loci. We then designed a system using a drug inducible Caspase 9 (iCasp9) to select for cells that underwent cassette exchange. This method enabled us to obtain a population of 100% edited cells. We anticipate that this tool will increase the utility of the chicken as a model organism, livestock, and bioreactor.

För att förbättra säkerhetsarbetet och för att skapa harmonisering inom EU vad gäller skydd av personuppgifter antogs i april år 2016 en ny EU-förordning om dataskydd, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), även benämnd Dataskyddsförordningen. Förordningen börjar gälla som lag i Sverige först den 25 maj år 2018. Införandet av förordningen kommer innebära att Europaparlamentets och rådets direktiv 95/46/EG av den 24 oktober 1995 om skydd för enskilda personer med avseende på behandling av personuppgifter och om det fria flödet av sådana uppgifter samt Personuppgiftslagen (1998:204) (PUL) upphör att gälla. Det huvudsakliga syftet med Dataskyddsförordningen är att ytterligare harmonisera och effektivisera skyddet av personuppgifter för att förbättra den inre marknadens funktion samt att öka den enskildas kontroll över sina personuppgifter. Dataskyddsförordningen är direkt tillämplig som lag i samtliga medlemsländer och kommer efter ikraftträdande utgöra grunden för generell personuppgiftsbehandling inom hela EU.  Det har under de senaste åren blivit allt mer vanligt att företag, organisationer, kommuner och myndigheter använder sig av molntjänster. Molntjänster är intressanta ur ett juridiskt perspektiv eftersom de mest uppmärksammade juridiska frågeställningarna angående molntjänster är frågor hänförliga till hantering av personuppgifter och säkerhet.   I uppsatsen redogörs för införandet av Dataskyddsförordningen (GDPR) utifrån perspektivet företags, organisationer, kommuners och myndigheters användande av molntjänster. I uppsatsen beskrivs även molntjänsters funktioner och egenskaper. Dataskyddsförordningen är nyligen antagen och utgör ännu inte svensk lag, förordningen baseras däremot i stora delar på Dataskyddsdirektivets innehåll och struktur. Dataskyddsdirektivet och PUL studeras därför i uppsatsen för att få en förståelse för bestämmelserna i Dataskyddsförordningen. Molntjänster finns i flera olika tekniska lösningar och är även gränsöverskridande, vilket innebär att användande av molntjänster i vissa fall innebär att personuppgifter överförs till ett tredje land. Uppsatsen behandlar därmed tillämpliga bestämmelser avseende överföringar av personuppgifter till tredje land. Uppsatsen avslutas med en analys och en slutsats. I slutsatsen konstateras att förordningen ger ett förstärkt skydd för den registrerade vid hantering av personuppgifter i molntjänster samt att förordningens utökade territoriella tillämpningsområde innebär att förordningen är bättre anpassad till molntjänstanvändande. Vidare konstateras i slutsatsen att rättsläget för överföringar av personuppgifter till USA med stöd av Privacy Shield-överenskommelsen för närvarande är osäkert.

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...

Thesis title: Liability of information society services provider for the storage of information provided by a recipient of the service This paper deals with a special liability rules for service providers that play a key role in the Internet environment and provide hosting services. Objectives of this paper are to specify the concept of the ISP, describe related current issues and above all to present and analyse the drafted legislation, which was presented by the European Commission at the end of 2016 and which has the potential to significantly influence the elaborated issues. In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the thesis identifies the legislation dealing with this issue and describes the relationship between the European and Czech regulations. It also further specifies the essential conditions for the attainment and subsequent preservation of a Safe Harbour, which excludes the application of general liability rules. It also deals with the ISP's no obligation to monitor the information they store. In connection with the above-mentioned matter, this thesis analyses important decision- making practice, which presents advanced interpretation of the issue and the development of SDEU's approach to the status of ISP in general. In its practical part, this paper focuses on the...

論文內容著重在以下三個重點: 試驗免責、延展性授權與延展性專利範圍、書面描述要件。首先是35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1)之Safe Harbor 緣由、案例、Integra v. Merck 一案之過程與後續影響以及271(e)(1)的試驗免責與研究工具的關係, 最後提出建議應限縮試驗免責範圍, 以強制授權或是明定專利法中的試驗免責範圍緩和基礎研究專利範圍過大現象(第二、三章)。 研究工具專利開發者多所採用之延展性授權與延展性專利範圍無非是想多獲得利益, 而研究工具專利對於生物科技發展是相當重要的, 第四章先以四方角色(大藥廠、大學與非營利機構、小藥廠與政府單位)討論研究工具對於本身的利益考量, 並且因試驗免責範圍不明, 延展性授權契約已是普遍存在, 詳細地討論其存在的意義, 並且分析已探討延展性授權金/契約議題文章, 另外對於延展性專利保護範圍, 明確指出哪一些核准專利是延展性保護範圍, 雖然2001年的三方會議已經明確地限制此類專利的核准, 由於Rochester v. G.D. Searle一案, 法院認為Rochester 專利包含延展性保護範圍, 歸因於未揭露出清楚的書面描述要件, 於是進行第五章書面描述要件的討論。 進而較詳細地探討生物機轉的途徑特性、功能性敘述必要性以及書面描述上的困難, 然後進行相關案件探討, 提出自己對於專利文件之書面描述要件的看法, 希望能在生物類研究工具專利保護範圍與書面描述要件中取平衡, 適切地保護研究工具發明。最後並提出總結與建議。 / Over the last twenty years, the biotechnology industry has grown very rapidly, and increased our understanding of incurable diseases. Research tools are playing important role to form the core of the pharmaceutical research, development, and testing. Because this industry is so research tool intensive, numerous problems have arisen stemming from the competing interests of the many players in this field. From the legislative history, the Hatch-Waxman Act embodies the legislative compromise balancing the competing interests of the pioneer pharmaceutical and allied research-based products industries with those of the generic drug industry. And the section 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1) statute provides a “safe harbor” from patent infringement based on activities that are reasonably related to obtaining FDA regulatory approval of drug products, but the plain language is fairly ambiguous. In Eli Lilly v. Medtronic, Supreme Court held the safe harbor extends to medical devices, despite the fact that § 271(e)(1) does not refer specifically to medical devices. Recently, for the case of Merck v. Integra, Federal Circuit announced that the term “solely” limits the safe harbor exemption from extending beyond uses of patented inventions that are reasonably related to those specified in § 271(e)(1). But Supreme Court rejected and held that § 271(e)(1) applies to uses of patented inventions that are reasonably related to the development and submission of any information to the FDA. The Court was silent on the potential applications and opened the questions of the safe harbor's application to patented research tools. These problems may be the reason that research tool providers attempt to request royalties such as reach-through royalties for covering the downstream compounds or products. They also try to file the patent application with the reach-through claim for claiming a future invention. However, the use of reach-through royalties is still controversial and causing a decrease in innovation. Patentees attempt to obtain reach-through claims for covering a future invention without actually describing in the written description. The Federal Circuit's holding in Rochester v. G.D. Searle that the Rochester's patents failed the written description requirement, and Rochester should curtail the use of reach-through claims. So far the USPTO has not been uniform in its application of written description requirement. We therefore propose a new test to determine whether, and under which circumstances, functional claiming may satisfy the written description requirement. One should not overreach the scope of the inventor’s contribution to the field of art as described in the patent specification. The approach would provide sufficient incentive for pioneering inventions, preserve room for the future, and thus expect to promote progress and to advance the purposes of patent law.

Since the US National Security Agency’s former contractor Edward Snowden exposed the Agency’s mass surveillance, the EU has been making a series of attempts toward a more safeguarded and stricter path concerning its data privacy protection. On 8 April 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU) invalidated the EU Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC on the basis of incompatibility with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter). After this judgment, the CJEU examined the legality of the Safe Harbour Agreement, which had been the main legal basis for transfers of personal data from the EU to the US under Decision 2000/520/EC. Subsequently, on 6 October 2015, in the case of Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner, the CJEU declared the Safe Harbour Decision invalid. The ground for the Court’s judgment was the fact that the Decision enabled interference, by US public authorities, with the fundamental rights to privacy and personal data protection under Article 7 and 8 of the Charter, when processing the personal data of EU citizens. According to the judgment, this interference has been beyond what is strictly necessary and proportionate to the protection of national security and the persons concerned were not offered any administrative or judicial means of redress enabling the data relating to them to be accessed, rectified or erased. The Court’s analysis of the Safe Harbour was borne out of the EU Commission’s own previous assessments. Consequently, since the transfers of personal data between the EU and the US can no longer be carried out through the Safe Harbour, the EU legislature is left with the task to create a safer option, which will guarantee that the fundamental rights to privacy and protection of personal data of the EU citizens will be respected. However, although the EU is the party dictating the terms for these transatlantic transfers of personal data, the current provisions of the US law are able to provide for derogations from every possible renewed agreement unless they become compatible with the EU data privacy law. Moreover, as much business is at stake and prominent US companies are involved in this battle, the pressure toward the US is not only coming from the EU, but some American companies are also taking the fight for EU citizens’ right to privacy and protection of their personal data.

企業因為經濟自由化、貿易國際化潮流之影響，逐漸成為資本集中與技術密集之經營型態。為求擴充生產規模、增加產品種類、分散投資風險、拓展國際市場等目的，因而成立新公司或兼併其他公司，或購買其他公司之股份，或母公司與子公司交叉持股，而形成關係企業之組織型態，已成為普遍趨勢。職是，關係企業之經濟發展與經營模式，已然占有重要之地位。 關係企業具有特殊屬性，舉凡管理組織、生產規劃、人事制度、市場行銷、財務風險、獲利能力、公共事務與社會歸屬，均有相當程度之影響力。我國公司法對於關係企業專章之規範，仍有不足之處，導致受一九九八年亞洲金融風暴影響所及，爆發若干關係企業之經營弊端，其中以股票流通市場之證券交易違法行為，最為嚴重。綜觀其原因，除肇始於東南亞金融危機及國際不景氣環境外，亦顯示關係企業在股票市場存有許多問題，諸如負責人欠缺誠信、掏空公司資產，造成企業發生危機，發生多起上市或上櫃公司之經營弊端，嚴重損害公司、股東權益與債權人利益，並衝擊社會投資人與整體經濟，值得探討研究。 本論文研究方向，以法制理論、比較法學及實證案例為基礎，論述關係企業證券交易之違法行為，以股票流通市場為中心，並闡述近年來若干重要之關係企業案例，分析法院裁判之論處法律邏輯。包括關係企業之市場操縱行為（違約交割、沖洗買賣、相對委託、連續交易炒作行為）、關係企業「護盤」之違法性、關係企業之內線交易行為，等重要項目。亦討論關係企業藉由無形資產之高估或低估而買賣有價證券之非常規交易行為，兼述國際會計準則公報之規範，佐以實際案例研究。此外，亦闡論關係企業財務預測制度與證券交易違法行為之牽連、證券投資人之保護。 本論文內容之參考文獻資料，包括學位論文（例如前輩先進之博碩士論文）、教授學者之著作書籍、著名期刊與國內外網站資訊。所參考資料則以我國與美國法制文獻為主，至於其他國家之部分，則略以要旨參酌。最後，再針對作者執業律師參與關係企業案例之辯護瞭解，提出若干防弊機制之建議，俾供各界參考。 / UNLAWFUL ACTS BY AFFILIATED ENTERPRISES RESPECTING SECURITIES TRANSACTIONS WITH A FOCUS ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE MARKET Abstract Due to the impact of economic liberalization and trade internationalization, operations of enterprises have gradually become capital-intensive and technology-intensive. In order to increase production, expand product line, spread out investment risks, and develop international markets, enterprises have established new companies, merged with others, and purchased shares of other companies, or have engaged in cross-holding of shares between parent companies and subsidiaries. As a result, the formation of affiliated enterprises has become a popular trend. The economic development and business model of affiliated enterprises have likewise become important issues. Affiliated enterprises have their unique attributes; their management organization, production planning, personnel policy, marketing, financial risks, profitability, public affairs, and social affiliation have significant impact on enterprises. Due to inadequacies in the regulations on affiliated enterprises in Taiwan’s Company Law, several affiliated enterprises were exposed to have engaged in fraudulent business operations as a result of the 1998 Asian financial crisis. Among these, most serious were cases involving unlawful securities transactions in the stock market. An analysis of the factors leading to such anomaly shows that in addition to the Southeast Asian financial crisis and international economic slowdown, problems caused by of affiliated enterprises in the stock market, such as integrity and credibility issues on the part of the persons-in-charge and their swindling of company assets, resulted in corporate crises. Many incidents of business malpractices in public or OTC companies occurred, severely undermining the interests of companies, shareholders, and creditors, as well as those of the public investors and the overall economy. All these are worthy of further exploration and study. This paper uses legal theories, comparative jurisprudence, and empirical studies to discuss the unlawful activities in securities transactions by affiliated enterprises. This paper focuses on the stock market to explain the major cases involving affiliated enterprises in recent years and to analyze the legal grounds in the court’s decision on punishment. The cases covered include market manipulation by enterprises, default of securities delivery, wash sales, matched order, manipulation of series of transactions, the unlawfulness of stock market intervention by affiliated enterprises, and insider trading by affiliated enterprises. In addition, this paper discusses the transaction anomalies resulting from overvalue or undervalue of intangible assets by affiliated enterprises. Regulations on the International Accounting Standards gazette are explained and supplemented by actual case studies. In addition, this paper explores the inter-relation between financial forecast systems in affiliated enterprises, unlawful activities in securities transaction, and investor protection. Reference literature used in this paper includes academic dissertations, publications by professors and scholars, periodicals, and information from local and foreign Web sites. Reference materials are based primarily on literature on Taiwan and U.S. laws, supplemented by summary of information from other countries. Finally, recommendations of mechanisms to prevent malpractices are put forward, drawing on the author’s experience as defense lawyer for affiliated enterprises.