Trade mark damages for infringement in multiple jurisdictions: a German court rules

A recent decision of the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg inGermany provides useful guidance as to which law applies whentrade mark infringements are committed in several EU memberstates; the Court found an effective and workable solution thatenhances Community Trade Mark Regulation enforcement and strengthensits unitary character throughout the Community.     

Understanding public agency communication: the case of the Swedish armed forces

This article suggests a diagnostic framework of public communication intended to capture new communication strategies used by Armed Forces across Europe to legitimize new tasks and recruit new personnel. Three distinct communicative models that impact differently on democratic values and public support are suggested: an Old Public Administration (OPA) model influenced by bureaucratic values, a New Public Management (NPM) model fuelled by market values and a deliberative model labelled ‘New Public Service’ (NPS) that is largely influenced by proponents of ‘e‐democracy’. A case study of the communication of the Swedish Armed Forces identifies a lingering bureaucratic (OPA) ideal. The market ideal (NPM) however clearly dominates. The article concludes that communication along market purposes, principles and practices risks distancing Armed Forces further from society. Yet, an embryonic deliberative ideal (NPS)—much fuelled by the use of social media such as blogs—was also identified. This growing ideal holds the potential of infusing deliberative vigor into the organization and presumably facilitates the bridging of the gap to society. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can a contractarian be a paternalist? The logic of James M. Buchanan’s system

We consider the simplest version of a jungle economy à la Piccione-Rubinstein, wherein as many agents as goods are assumed, agents consume at most one indivisible good, and a transitive strong power relation exists. We first study the wilderness of jungle equilibria, i.e., whether they are Pareto-minimal (an allocation is Pareto-minimal if it is impossible to reduce the welfare of one agent without increasing the welfare of another). We show that jungle equilibria are not necessarily Pareto-minimal. We then study and characterize the set of Pareto-minimal jungle equilibria. Second, we tackle the case of equally powerful people, in contrast to the assumption that the power relation is asymetric. Assuming specifically a transitive weak power relation, we show that jungle equilibria exist, but that they are not always unique, nor Pareto-optimal. We also provide conditions under which those equilibria are Pareto-minimal.

     

Zulassung von Projekten in Natura-2000-Gebieten Zur Frage der Betroffenheit priorit?rer Lebensraumtypen und Arten nach § 34 Abs. 4 BNatschG

Von der sog. Abweichungsprüfung nach Art. 6 Abs. 4 FFH-RL wird infolge der restriktiven Rechtsprechung zur Frage der Erheblichkeit von Beeintr?chtigungen von Natura-2000-Gebieten in der Praxis verst?rkt Gebrauch gemacht. Sie ist h?ufig die einzige M?glichkeit, um für Projekte mit Auswirkungen auf Natura-2000-Gebiete eine Zulassung zu erhalten. Besonders strenge Anforderungen gelten hinsichtlich priorit?rer Lebensraumtypen und Arten. Durch die am 1. M?rz 2010 in Kraft getretene Novelle des BNatschG1 hat der Gesetzgeber klargestellt, dass die strengen Anforderungen des § 34 Abs. 4 BNatSchG nicht schon beim blo?en Vorkommen priorit?rer Bestandteile im FFH-Gebiet zu stellen sind, sondern nur, wenn diese auch von dem Projekt “betroffen” sind. Unbeantwortet bleibt dabei, nach welchem Ma?stab die Betroffenheit priorit?rer Bestandteile zu beurteilen ist. Dieser Beitrag legt dar, in wieweit § 34 Abs. 4 BNatSchG voraussetzt, dass priorit?re Bestandteile im Sinne des § 34 Abs. 2 BNatSchG durch das Projekt “erheblich beeintr?chtigt” werden.     

Rodeo and territorial scope of CTM infringement procedure

The binding effect of a ruling in an action relating to a Communitytrade mark (CTM) in one country is limited to the territoryfor which the injunction is sought and does not prevent subsequentprocedures between the same parties in relation to the sameinfringing acts in other Member States of the European Union.     

Reference to a protected geographical indication on a composite food product

It is prohibited to refer to a geographical indication protectedunder Regulation 2081/92 on the label of a composite food productif the specific features of the PGI are not preserved.     

Die Zulässigkeit artenschutzrechtlicher CEF-Maßnahmen in FFH-Gebieten

Natur und Recht - Die Möglichkeit, die Verwirklichung artenschutzrechtlicher Verbotstatbestände des 44 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 bis 4 BNatSchG durch die Festlegung vorgezogener...