Perspectives on the success/failure experience and the cost of semiconductor technology transfer

There is a growing demand for Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuit technology in all facets: Process know-how, design skilss, knowledge of the market. The market for solid state technology is expanding exponentially through conversion of older electromechanical and linear applications to digital solid state technology and through totally new electronic applications. There is a trend for a few countries (U.S., Japan, France) to monopolize more and more of the world-wide industry as technology pushes forward. Still, developing countries and even some modern countries want to acquire a VLSI capability for national prestige or strategic military purposes and this guarantees the opportunistic sales of technology to uneducated customers. This presents a problem for both the seller and buyer. This paper discusses the successes and failures of this class of technology transfer, the price, the pitfalls and the actual process.     

Regulatory Reform: Creating Gaps and Making Markets

This article argues that dispute processing reform, such as regulatory negotiation, plays a role in constructing a "crisis" in regulatory litigation and defining a new partnership between regulated interests and the state. Unlike traditional studies of regulatory reform, which tend to evaluate the behavioral impact of legal reform on policy, I argue that reforms themselves play a constitutive role in politics. The article examines the ideology of regulatory negotiation and presents empirical data on federal regulatory litigation in the U.S. Courts of Appeals (1940–1985), to demonstrate that this legal reform is part of a general drive toward a minimalist state.     

房地产经纪的内涵与特征分析

目前我国房地产经纪业管理存在一些混乱现象,亟需行业立法加以规范,但是国内理论界还没有形成对房地产经纪内涵的统一认识。因此,从当前国内有关经纪、经纪人的定义出发,分析了英美法系和大陆法系有关经纪的概念,提出了经纪、经纪人概念的内涵,探讨了经纪与行纪、代理的关系,在此基础上,深入研究了房地产经纪的内涵与特征。     

不动产一物二卖问题研究

对于不动产一物二卖,社会一般观念认为,出卖人失信背义,应保护第一买受人。学说与判例的主流观点则认为,第二买卖合同的效力并不因第一买卖合同的存在本身而受影响,若第二买受人先完成登记,即可取得标的物所有权。不动产的一物二卖应区分不同情形,产生出卖人交出其第二次出卖所获利益、第二买受人不能取得所有权以及出卖人与第二买受人承担侵权损害赔偿责任等法律效果。在这一背景下,当前学说与判例的主流观点殊值检讨与修正,以重回守信与公平的轨道。     

Insurance Issues for Green Start-ups: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know

This article is a case study based upon a business entrepreneur's efforts to obtain specialized insurance coverage for a clean-energy start-up business. The article identifies and discusses some of the potential liabilities of insurance brokers in the event that the insurance coverages they obtain do not adequately protect the interests of the client's business. The article concludes that, at least in New York State, the rule is “Let the buyer beware!” and that a business person cannot safely rely upon advice given by an insurance broker in obtaining complex or specialized insurance coverage.     

论商品房买卖中的预售登记

我国商品房买卖中的预售登记备案制还不是真正意义上的不动产预告登记,预售登记既非商品房买卖合同的成立要件,也不是法定的生效要件。不动产的预告登记具有使债权具有物权性的功用,保障买房人将来取得产权的期待权实现。我国商品房预售登记在实施中存有许多问题,其性质、效力、内容等还亟待立法明确。     

Old Habits Are Hard to Change: A Case Study of Israeli Real Estate Contracts

This article presents a case study on the persistent dollarization norm in the Israeli real estate market. For many years Israeli real estate contracts have been denominated in American dollars. This contracting norm has remained surprisingly stable despite tremendous changes in the structure of the Israeli foreign currency market that severed the connection between the dollar and local inflation and added significant risks to exchange rates. Using an array of theoretical tools, I explain this puzzling phenomenon and demonstrate the centrality of social norms to the design of high‐stakes contracts. Finally, I explore the interaction between social norms and the law and highlight the potential obstacles to regulating contracting norms.     

意思主义模式下不动产一物二卖的理论与实务——以意大利民法为观察样本

尽管意大利民法仍然坚持物权变动的意思主义原则,理论与司法实务在解释和适用《民法典》第2644条确立的"登记优先"规则时,却间接地承认至少在不动产一物二卖的情形下,不动产物权的变动适用登记生效规则,这也为后续一系列违约责任、损害赔偿等问题的展开确立了逻辑起点。而在对第一受让人的救济方面,意大利民法则走得更远:通过出让人的合同责任、第二受让人的侵权责任、损害赔偿的"原物返还"方式以及第一受让人的撤销之诉一环扣一环地展示出让人与第二受让人的主观状态与损害赔偿责任之间的关系。此外,意大利民法灵活务实的规则、完善的救济手段都具有启示性且引人深思。     

Trademark parody and the mass media: Going beyond survey evidence in the determination of “a likelihood of confusion”

This article examines trademark parody in statutory and mass media case law by, in part, analyzing several key cases which illustrate the use of quantitative social science research in the determination of trademark parody infringement. Although the definition and nature of trademark parody has not been settled definitively, courts’ attitudes toward survey evidence, particularly its probative value and materiality in the determination of copyright and trademark infringement litigation, have evolved over time. Courts now admit survey evidence if it meets certain methodological conditions. In trademark parody litigation, survey evidence pointing to a “likelihood of confusion” has evolved as the standard test of trademark infringement. However, there are questions whether vague, subjective concepts like “a likelihood of confusion” and “perception of substantial similarity” between trademarks can be adequately measured by consumer surveys. It is argued that multi‐method research which has both quantitative and qualitative aspects would provide more reliable data than the “one‐shot” surveys or case studies that are widely used in settling trademark infringement cases.     

Coverage for Climate Change: Footing the Bill for Carbon Footprints

Lawsuits against automakers, oil refineries, and power companies to recover damages allegedly attributable to greenhouse gas emissions are being filed across the country, and can present a real and expensive problem to businesses within these industries. This July, Steadfast Insurance Company sued its policyholder, AES, seeking a declaration that there was no coverage under its commercial general liability policy for a global warming lawsuit in which AES was a named defendant. Using the Steadfast litigation as a rubric, this article reviews the current state of climate change litigation, and evaluates some of the issues that may arise when seeking coverage for this litigation.     

预售商品房买受人期待权的民法保护

商品房预售是房地产开发的一种主要筹资方式。商品房预售合同签订后,作为买卖标的物的商品房尚未建成,买受人仅取得预售商品房所有权的期待权。尽管物权法和债权法有些概括性规定对预售商品房期待权的保护起了一定作用,但远不能最大限度地保护买受人所享有的期待利益。完善我国民事立法的相关规定,有助于从根本上维护预售商品房买受人的期待权,实现买受人最终获得商品房所有权的目的。     

论分期付款买卖中的标的物所有权移转

分期付款买卖系特种买卖之一。出卖人移转标的物所有权系其应当履行的基本义务。学界对于分期付款买卖中标的物所有权移转的时间各有不同的观点。本文认为,在分期付款买卖中,除法律另有规定或当事人另有约定外,自出卖人将标的物交付买受人时标的物所有权移转。给付行为本身当然是履行买卖合同的行为,只是该行为同时又属于一个包含物权变动合意的物权行为,而同一行为具有物权效力与债权效力双重效果是正常的法律现象。     

The relationship between corporate governance characteristics and credit risk exposure in banks: implications for financial regulation

This article analyses board structures in listed Danish banks in the years prior to the financial crisis by exploring the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and credit risk exposure. The article presents a novel approach as it relies on a newly developed risk metric entitled the “Supervision Diamond” introduced by the Danish FSA, which “external” board directors must address. It contains five thresholds for measuring a bank’s exposure to credit risks i.e. the proportion of large customers, lending growth, the ratio of lending/deposits, liquidity buffer and the proportion of real estate loans. By employing quantitative governance variables the article finds that increased executive director remuneration is associated with increased credit risk posed by the bank’s borrowers. On the other hand, increasing the number of executive/“inside” directors is associated with a lower credit risk exposure. It is argued that more “inside” directors on the executive board constitutes a stronger “checks and balance” system. The article also documents that the probability of obtaining state capital from the Danish credit bailout package is negatively related to larger boards as well as higher executive director remuneration. The policy implication is that financial authorities should be increasingly aware of insufficient corporate governance characteristics in order to prevent excessive credit risk exposure. Moreover, the article provides important insights on which corporate governance variables have a significant impact on a bank’s credit risk exposure. This knowledge is valuable for financial authorities/policy makers considering future regulatory initiatives and how they should administer bank monitoring.     

不动产的抵押登记与抵押合同之关系——兼评《担保法》第41条

本文通过对不动产抵押登记和不动产抵押合同的关系进行系统深入的分析 ,意在论证两个基础理论问题 :一是不动产的抵押登记是产生抵押权的基础 ,而不是不动产抵押合同的生效要件 ;不动产抵押合同是产生不动产抵押登记请求权的基础 ,不动产抵押登记完成 ,抵押权法律关系产生。     

“服务论”视野下的房地产登记探析

房地产登记作为一种行政行为,也存在"异化"的可能.本文以"服务论"为视角对房地产登记行为进行审视,试图说明只有将服务理念注入房地产登记领域,方能从根源上抑制其"异化".     

Managing Future Liability At Petroleum Impacted Sites Through Proactive Strategic Environmental Baselining

An important consideration of any commercial and industrial property acquisition or divestiture—whether it is a single gasoline station or a suite of oil refineries—is the extant environmental conditions of the property(s) at the time of the transaction. Property sellers and prospective buyers each consider and negotiate how any existing or future liability associated with extant environmental conditions will be handled. In spite of this forethought and the agreed contract terms, future litigation over unanticipated environmental contamination remains a real possibility. Often precipitating future litigation are disagreements surrounding whether “newly realized” contamination is old (pre-sale) or new (post-sale). As a result, environmental forensic investigations are often faced with the issue of “age-dating” this newly discovered contamination in order to determine whether it was released pre- or post-sale. Age-dating contamination can be an inherently difficult task to perform and technically defend. Technical arguments between experts can be short-circuited if there was an irrefutable understanding of the nature of extant contamination that had existed at the time of the sale. Conventional environmental due diligence investigations (Phase I and II site assessments) fall short of providing this understanding. In this paper, we discuss Strategic environmental baselining (SEB), a cost-effective and pro-active form of environmental due diligence that incorporates a key component of environmental forensics, that is, advanced chemical fingerprinting using modified EPA Methods that are tailored for hydrocarbon fingerprinting. Sufficient sampling and advanced chemical fingerprinting performed at the time of a transaction (or, at least, properly archived samples analyzed in the future as needed) provides the evidence that eliminates the need to “age-date” contamination at some future date. Advanced chemical fingerprinting data also provides detailed characteristics of the extant contamination and thereby, helps distinguish “old” from “new” contamination, regardless of alteration of the chemicals of concern by weathering. Armed with this information both buyers and/or sellers can protect themselves in the event of any future claim(s).     

论房产纠纷行政与民事交叉案件之审理对策——兼评《物权法》实施对民事行政关联诉讼审判之影响

目前房产纠纷行政与民事诉讼交叉案件的审判存在很大缺陷,不仅诉讼时间冗长,且难以正确处理二者之间关系,不能有效保护当事人的权利。应当在《物权法》立法精神和原则的指导下,以行政与民事程序"二审合一"审判模式一并审理解决行政与民事关联诉讼的难题,重构房产纠纷行政与民事交叉诉讼的审判对策。     

西方典型发达国家物业税发展情况比较研究

物业税是当今中国税制改革的一个热点问题,也是各国税收制度的一项重要内容,由于历史、文化、国情以及经济调控目标各异,各国物业税在征收主体、征税对象、计税方法等方面存在较大差异.比较美、加、日等西方典型发达国家物业税收制度,分析国外物业税的政策趋向,试图将其一些先进方法思想运用到中国的物业税改革中,从而为中国顺利的推行物业税提供借鉴.     

Daubert and the Exclusionary Ethos: The Convergence of Corporate and Judicial Attitudes towards the Admissibility of Expert Evidence in Tort Litigation*

The article traces the way admissibility jurisprudence following Daubert has come to emphasize the importance of strict judicial gatekeeping; making it more difficult for plaintiffs to succeed in tort and product liability litigation. This exclusionary ethos appears to have been shaped by a range of values and interests which appear closely aligned to the perspectives promoted by corporate-sponsored proponents of tort and evidence reform. The effects of the exclusionary ethos are explored through an example of judicial gatekeeping in recent mobile telephone litigation and a review of judicial surveys of post- Daubert attitudes toward expert evidence. The role of corporate-sponsored amicus briefs in the influential Supreme Court Kumho Tire Co. Ltd. v Carmichael appeal, extra-legal mobilization by conservative think tanks in litigation around electric and magnetic fields (EMF), and a qualitative citation analysis of federal court judgments, are then used in a preliminary attempt to trace the influence of corporate lobbying and social problem rhetorics on judicial attitudes and practice.